Text-to-speech applications to reduce mind wandering in students with dyslexia

Background: Mind wandering—that is, a shift in the contents of thought away from an ongoing task—can have detrimental consequences for students' reading comprehension. To date, no evidence is available on the effects of text-to-speech solutions on rates of mind wandering during reading. Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate the effects of text-to-speech technology on frequency of mind wandering and reading comprehension in young students with dyslexia (20) and typical development (50). Methods: Students were presented, on a personal computer, texts and comprehension questions in two modalities: self-paced silent reading and text-to-speech reading. Comprehension scores and mind wandering occurrence were considered. A battery of cognitive tasks and questionnaires on mind wandering and emotional traits was also included. Results: There were no differences in baseline rates of mind wandering between the two groups. In the text-to-speech condition, both groups showed better reading comprehension and reduced rates of mind wandering. Students with dyslexia were significantly more on task in the text-to-speech condition compared to the self-paced reading condition. Implications: These results suggest that text-to-speech might represent a reading solution that allows students with Dyslexia to diminish mind wandering during text-to-speech reading.