Today we’ll take a look at what a few Bionic Reading Research Papers say about this speed reading method. It’s been a big thing online for a while now.
To find out if it really works, I checked out a few studies that have been done on the topic and it turns out… it may not live up to its buzz.
Here are the questions I was able to answer to through this little endeavour.
- Can Bionic Reading Increase Reading Speed?
- Does Bionic Reading Help With Comprehension
- Can Bionic Reading Support Developing or Struggling Readers?
- How Does Bionic Reading Aid People With ADHD?
- Could Bionic Reading Help Boost Reading Fluency In a Foreign Language?
If you’re curious too, check out my notes below.
Can Bionic Reading Increase Reading Speed?
According to the official website of Renato Casutt, the method’s inventor, the main purpose of Bionic Reading is to increase speed. The reasoning behind that is that we store learned words and only need a few letters or syllables to recognize them, not the whole entire word. This supposedly makes you move on from one word to another faster than with a regular font.
The main purpose of Bionic Reading is increasing speed – as we clearly see in its description on the method’s official website, Bionic-Reading.com.
Clicking through some pages on this website, more than once you’ll se claims that there are people who swear by it.
And you’d also see it on social media. Particularly on TikTok.
Tons of people strongly advocate for the effectiveness of this method. Some even say it’s doubled their reading speed, which sounds like a stretch, but who’s to say it’s not true?
Well, the scientific research on Bionic Reading does. At least some of it.
In a 2024 paper, Joshua Snell tested and compared how long it takes participants to read with the Bionic Reading font versus a regular font.
He found no significant improvement.
All participants were shown 100 different paragraphs of text of various styles, difficulty, and themes.
Half were regular; half were bionic. 32 participants, none of whom were ever previously using Bionic Reading.
Granted, the sample size is pretty small, and all of the participants were university students with no known reading difficulties.
Could Bionic Reading Actually Hinder Reading Speed?
Even though not specifically tested in the paper above or any other research study presented in this piece, a strong argument against Casutt’s hypothesis is that people actually skip or skim over high-frequency words like “the,” “of,” and “in” by default.
The same also tends to happen with other short words that are casually used in the day-to-day life of the reader.
Rayner & Duffy’s 1986 study on Lexical Complexity and Fixation Time found that readers fixate more on complex or infrequent words.
The Bionic Font might force fixation on these words, potentially reducing mind wandering and preventing important details from being skipped. For speed, this is detrimental. But what about comprehension? Couldn’t it actually aid it?
Naturally, this brings us to our next section:
Does Bionic Reading Help With Comprehension
In the same study we mentioned above, Snell found no difference in comprehension rates between Bionic Reading and regular fonts.
Similar results were gathered in a 2023 Norwegian paper aimed at seeing if bionic reading could enhance reading comprehension for grade school students.
The study involved sixth-grade students, comparing those using bionic reading formatting with a control group.
Contrary to expectations, the results indicated that students using bionic reading did not perform better in reading speed compared to their peers.
Conversely, another study, also done in 2024 by Santos, had results leaning in the other way.
The participants (12th-grade humanities students) here were pre-tested for reading abilities using a standardized test. Then they were divided into 3 groups:
- Independent Readers (90%-100% comprehension levels)
- Instructional (75-89% comprehension level)
- Frustration (<75% comprehension level)
The majority of the students were at the Frustration level (61%).
Once this was established, he exposed the participants to various texts written with Bionic Font, then he re-tested their comprehension level using the same standardized method.
The results have shown that there was significant improvement in the post-test scores.
A majority of 72% improved to the instructional level, and 9.3 % moved to the independent level.
Worthy of note here is that this speed reading method was effective in aiding comprehension for participants who had been somewhat struggling with reading beforehand.
Compared to Snell’s study, which didn’t mention having struggling participants.
This leaves us with the following question:
Can Bionic Reading Support Specifically Developing or Struggling Readers?
Here too we have data leaning towards both yes and no.
To answer this type of question, Joshua Snell split his participants into 2 groups based on pre-test proficiency and analyzed if there were notable differences between those with higher or lower scores.
There were no noticeable improvements whatsoever.
However, it’s worth noting that his group of participants isn’t very representative of what you’d think about when thinking of a struggling reader – all were university students without any learning or reading disabilities.
On the other hand, we have a few other studies that isolate groups of participants that do in fact have some problems either with reading speed or comprehension.
Budomo et al, 2023 found out that Bionic Reading can help with the motivation and self-efficacy of students with learning disabilities.
They tested 110 students from 2 different schools using the Motivation to Read Questionnaire Revised and reading self-efficacy questionnaires.
The study concluded that this technology can be adapted and used by teachers in specific situations as a support for students who find reading challenging and called for better structured intervention plans.
How Does Bionic Reading Aid People With ADHD?
Another common point that’s brought up around the Bionic Reading discussions is that it might be specifically useful for neurodiviergent people – particulary those with ADHD.
Many online testimonials, both on TikTok and Reddit claim this.
Similar types of positive feedback are referenced on the Bionic Reading About page.
We have received feedback from those affected that thanks Bionic Reading® because they immediately understood the content of various texts the first time, they read them, which was impossible without Bionic Reading®
Said people or testimonials aren’t directly shown on this page, but we’ll have to assume they exist ?!
Ok, so what does the science say about this?
Unfortunately, not much at the time of writing.
There’s been an EGG (Electroencephalogram) study to test this claim, but the results turned out to be negative. In 2024, Paleshnikova investigated the effects of Bionic Reading in an EGG study.
The objective was to check the semantic processing of congruent and incongruent sentences. Meaning, senences that are easy to understand right away and sentences that either make no sense, are harder to grasp, or could have multiple potential meanings.
It measured ERP components, specifically N400, in neurotypical and ADHD readers. Basically, this means they used a brain scanner to see how people react while reading.
No specific advantages or disatvantages for people with ADHD were identified.
Could Bionic Reading Help Boost Reading Fluency In a Foreign Language?
Teachers and tutors of foreign languages are all the time on the lookout for methods to improve skills through various methods.
In a 2023 study, Aryani wanted to see if reading proficiency for students who take English as a Foreign Language classes.
30 students participated. Their proficiency was pre-tested, 20 of whom scored below the standard of their grade (10th grade).
The test had students reading bionic text for 15 minutes and then writing down the information retained. Activities were monitored using 4 indicattors:attention, participation, exercise and Q&A.
The post-experiment results showed slight improvement in 11 students. A second set of texts was given the next week, where 22 students reached mastery level in reading. The study concludes that the Bionic Method significantly improved reading proficiency, student engagement, and understanding, and scores improved across cycles.
Conclusions: Who Bionic Reading Benefits & Whot It Doesn’t
| Potential Benefits | Limited or No Benefit |
|---|---|
| Struggling readers with low comprehension | Skilled/advanced readers |
| Students with reading motivation issues | Readers looking for big speed boosts |
| Foreign language learners (some cases) | ADHD readers (no clear brain processing effect) |
| Those who enjoy a more guided reading flow | People who already read fluently and quickly |
Even though there are some papers on the matter, it still seems improper to give a definite answer.
According to current reserach, Bionic Reading might work for reading speed and comprehension in particular scenarios, for particular people.
What the papers we looked at today show is that if you’re a good reader and don’t typically find it difficult to go thorugh text materials, it might not benefit you too much.
But if you’re struggling with reading – be it in your own language or a foreign one – this method might actually help and bring to a different level.
When I started reading these papers, I first only stumbled upon findings that would lean to the negative – Bionic Reading doesn’t work. But as you’ve seen, there is some evidence that it could have a positive impact.
My personal suggestion is to try it out if you find it interesting. It’s not time consuming, inexpensive, and easy to experiment – you can convert text onto your laptopt, Kindle, tablet, and whatever over device you need.
Check it out, and if you see an improvement, why not stick to it? And if you try, please leave us a comment below and let us know how it went.
We’re planning a little experiment of our own too.
References
- Snell, J. (2024). No, Bionic Reading does not work. Acta Psychologica, 247, 104304.
- Budomo, X. M., Pamaran, E. C. W., So, L. M. F., Capuno, R. G., Delos Reyes, N. R. T., Pinili, L. C., & Añero, M. B. (2023). The impact of bionic reading on the reading motivation and self‑efficacy of students with learning disabilities. International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Studies, 3(10), 402–416
- Paleshnikova, Hut, S. (2024). Beyond the Hype: Does Bionic reading live up to the expectations from the perspective of ADHD individuals? An EEG study.
- Santos, J. K. B. (2024). Improving the reading comprehension of senior high school students through bionic reading. Multidisciplinary International Journal of Research and Development, 4(3), Article MIJRDV4I30002.
- Etika Ariyani (2023) Improving students reading proficiency using bionic method (a classroom action research at 10th grade students). Bajang Journal.
- Egeberg, H. R. (2023). Kan bionic reading bidra til økt prestasjon i leseforståelse hos sjette‑trinns elever? (English: Can bionic reading contribute to increased performance in reading comprehension among sixth‑grade students?) [Masteroppgave, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University].