Abstract
People with Meares-Irlen syndrome (MIS) perceive visual distortions and abnormal brightness in text. Translucent colored overlays may alleviate these symptoms, making reading more comfortable. We examined various colors' effect on reading comfort, and whether colored overlays affect reading in Japanese participants with and without possible MIS. Participants read Japanese syllabary (Hiragana) and English alphabets with ten colored overlays (purple, rose, peach, orange, yellow, green, light blue, blue, blue-gray, and gray), and without overlay. After reading the texts, participants ranked each overlay color's reading comfort. In both the Hiragana and English alphabet conditions, participants with possible MIS ranked the blue-gray and light blue overlays highly, and normal controls ranked blue-gray, gray, green, and light blue highly. These results suggest that bluish-colored overlays make reading more comfortable in people with and without MIS.
