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Abstract

Progressive reading impairment is an early and debilitating symptom of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) arising from the progressive deterioration of visual processing skills. Objective: The goal of this study was to test the effectiveness of a purpose-built reading app (ReadClear) co-produced with people living with PCA and designed to reduce the reading difficulties experienced by this population (e.g., getting lost in the page and missing words when reading). Methods: Twenty subjects with PCA were included in a cross-over design home-based study aimed at determining whether ReadClear could 1) enhance the subjective reading experience (reading pleasantness) and 2) improve reading accuracy (reducing the number of reading errors) compared with a sham condition (a standard e-reader). Results: Reading using ReadClear provided a better subjective reading experience than sham (p=0.018, d=0.5) and significantly reduced the percentage of reading errors (p<0.0001, r=0.82), particularly errors due to omissions (p=0.01, r=0.50), repeated words (p=0.002, r=0.69), and regressions in the text (p=0.003, r=0.69). We found that different kinds of reading errors were related to specific neuropsychological profiles. Conclusion: ReadClear can assist reading in people living with PCA by reducing the number of reading errors and improving the subjective reading experience of users. © 2019 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.