Speed Reader

What is this speed reader?

This page shows text one word (or a short group of words) at a time at a fixed spot on the screen. Your eyes stay still while the words come to you, which removes the small eye movements of normal reading. The red letter in each word is its focus point: a little left of the middle, where the eye recognises a word most quickly. Every word is lined up so that letter sits on the same vertical guide.

The same page also reads text aloud with your device’s own voices, highlights the word being spoken, and can combine both: one big word at a time, in step with the voice. Paste text, drop a .txt, .md or .html file, or try a public-domain sample. Nothing is uploaded; your text, settings and position are stored only in this browser.

Does speed reading work? What the research says

• Average reading speed. Adults read about 240 words per minute silently (a little more for fiction, a little less for dense non-fiction). Speech is slower, about 150 words per minute.
• Speed and understanding trade off. Reviews of the eye-movement research (for example Rayner and colleagues, 2016) find that reading faster costs comprehension, and that claims of reading 1,000 words per minute or more with full understanding are not supported. Skimming is useful, but it is not the same as reading every word.
• Why one word at a time can still help. Showing words in one place (RSVP) removes the time spent moving your eyes and stops you drifting off the line. For easy material, many people can comfortably go somewhat faster than they usually read. It also removes your ability to glance back, and that glance back is part of how understanding works. That is why this reader has a back up option, sentence jumps and a text view.
• Use it where it fits. Light articles, news, emails and review passes are good fits. Hard textbooks, contracts and anything you must remember deserve a slower speed, or the read-aloud mode with the text in front of you.

How to use it

• Speed read. Choose a speed, press play (or Space). Start at your comfortable speed plus 10 to 20 percent. When you can retell what you read, raise it by 25 to 50 words per minute. Drop back as soon as you lose the thread.
• Words at a time. In Settings, show 2 to 5 words at once. Groups of words match how the eye takes in phrases and feel less choppy at higher speeds.
• Smart pauses hold a little longer at commas and full stops and on long words and numbers, so sentences keep their rhythm. The speed you set is the base speed; with smart pauses on, the real average is a bit lower. Slow start eases in over the first few words.
• Read aloud. Pick a voice (the best match for your text’s language is chosen for you), set the speed, pitch and volume, and press play. The word being spoken and its sentence are highlighted and scrolled into view. Click any word in the text view to jump there, in any mode.
• Read + listen. One big word at a time, driven by the voice. Hearing words while seeing them helps with names and unfamiliar terms, and is a good way to learn how a word is pronounced.
• Measure my reading speed gives a rough starting number. It is a sample of one easy passage, not a test of comprehension.

Tips

• Most people hear the words in their head as they read (subvocalisation). That is normal and nothing to fight; speeds above roughly 400 to 500 words per minute leave little room for it, which is one reason understanding falls.
• Use the text view or read-aloud mode first for a hard passage, then speed read it once more as revision.
• Take a break every 10 to 15 minutes. Staring at a flashing word is tiring, and focus mode (F) hides everything else.
• If one word at a time feels jumpy, try 2 or 3 words, a larger or smaller word size, a different font or a softer colour scheme. Some readers, including some with dyslexia or ADHD, find a single calm focus point easier to follow; others prefer the full text. Try both and use whichever helps you. This is a reading aid, not a treatment for anything, and the “Easy-read” font is simply a wide-lettered system font.
• Reduced-motion settings are respected, and the word display is hidden from screen readers (it would announce every word). Screen reader users get status updates and the full text view instead.

Keyboard shortcuts

Questions

Why can’t I hear a voice, or why is it missing words?

Voices come from your browser and operating system, so the list differs by device. Chrome, Edge and Safari have many; Firefox on some systems has few. If the list is empty, install a voice in your system settings (Settings › Accessibility › Spoken content on Apple devices, Speech on Windows) and reload. Some voices do not report which word they are on; the page then estimates the highlight from the speaking speed and tells you so.

Is my text sent anywhere?

No. Speech runs on your device through the browser’s speech synthesis, and some browsers use an online voice that sends the text being spoken to that voice provider (the voice name says “Online” or “Google”). Pick a local voice if the text is private. The shareable settings link contains only speed, words at a time and mode, never your text.

What file types can I open?

Plain text (.txt), Markdown (.md) and HTML (.html). For a PDF or Word file, copy the text out of it and paste it in. For a web page, select the article, copy and paste it here (a page cannot be fetched from here because browsers block it).

What speed should I choose?

Start where reading feels easy, around 250 to 350 words per minute for most adults. Faster speeds suit familiar, simple text. Above about 500, expect to retain much less. The highest settings (up to 1,500) are there for skimming and for fun, not for studying.

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