Personalization of Visual Characters and Text-to-Speech (TTS) to Support Learning in Students With Reading Difficulties

NCT06947512 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 996
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 90
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 3

Brief Summary

Previous research has shown the importance of font type, size and spacing to facilitate text reading in dyslexia. A special automatized procedure was designed to select the most favorable parameters for both text visualization and text-to-speech (TTS) conversion to be used by students with reading difficulties. The validation of its outcomes will be carried out through a systematic comparison of the use of the personalized versus standard fonts and voices in reading and writing tests.

Conditions

Developmental Dyslexia; Reading Problem

Keywords

Developmental Dyslexia; Reading Difficulties; Personalization; Visual parameters; Auditory parameters; Fonts; Text-to-Speech (TTS)

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Reading facilitation (speed), i.e. the advantage in reading performance (speed) produced by personalized parameters as compared to standard parameters

  difference between reading speed (seconds to read the text displayed by the software) with personalized and with standard visual parameters

  Intervention will take place during initial assessment and will last about 1,5 hours (comparison between personalized and standard parameters during the same assessment session)

• Reading facilitation (accuracy), i.e. the advantage in reading performance (accuracy) produced by personalized parameters as compared to standard parameters

  difference between reading accuracy (number of errors in reading the text displayed by the software) with personalized and with standard visual parameters

  Intervention will take place during initial assessment and will last about 1,5 hours (comparison between personalized and standard parameters during the same assessment session)

• Comprehension facilitation, i.e. the advantage in auditory comprehension performance produced by personalized TTS parameters as compared to standard parameters

  difference between writing accuracy (number of errors in writing a pre-defined list of nonwords) for stimuli dictated with personalized and with standard auditory parameters in the TTS device

  Intervention will take place during initial assessment and will last about 1,5 hours (comparison between personalized and standard parameters during the same assessment session)

Secondary Outcomes (6)

• possibility to discriminate TD students' reading speed from that of students with DD and SEN

  about 10 months

• possibility to discriminate TD students's reading accuracy from that of students with DD and SEN

  about 10 months

• possibility to discriminate TD students' writing accuracy from that of students with DD and SEN

  about 10 months

• validity and reliability values for the reading speed measures collected by the software

  about 10 months

• validity and reliability values for the reading accuracy measures collected by the software

  about 10 months

Study Arms (1)

Participant

EXPERIMENTAL

All participants in the study will be assessed with the Seleggo Test procedure and then tested on reading and writing to dictation in the two conditions, with personalized and with standard visual and auditory parameters for text visualization and TTS

Device: Seleggo Test

Interventions

Seleggo Test DEVICE

Seleggo Test is a computerized procedure to identify the personalized visual and auditory parameters facilitating reading and writing for each participant. By applying these parameters to the visualization and to the TTS software during reading of school texts, the participants are expected to be facilitated in reading and understanding the text.

Participant

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 7 Years - 15 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• age 7-15 years
• no history of reading difficulties
• attends school in Italy

You may not qualify if:

• special educational needs or diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders
• age 7-15 years
• diagnosis of Developmental Dyslexia or Specific Reading Disorder
• Attends school in Italy
• diagnosis of Intellectual Disability
• age 7-15 years
• reported by school to have significant difficulties in reading and writing
• Attends school in Italy (at least 6 months continued schooling and exposure to the Italian language)
• diagnosis of Intellectual Disability

Sponsors & Collaborators

• IRCCS Eugenio Medea: lead

Study Sites (3)

IRCCS E. Medea, polo di Bosisio Parini

Bosisio Parini, LC, 23842, Italy

RECRUITING

IRCCS E.Medea, polo di Conegliano

Conegliano, TV, 31015, Italy

RECRUITING

Associazione La Nostra Famiglia

Treviso, TV, 31100, Italy

RECRUITING

Related Publications (1)

• Lorusso ML, Borasio F, Panetto P, Curioni M, Brotto G, Pons G, Carsetti A, Molteni M. Validation of a Web App Enabling Children with Dyslexia to Identify Personalized Visual and Auditory Parameters Facilitating Online Text Reading. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction. 2024; 8(1):5.

  BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Dyslexia

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Language Disorders; Communication Disorders; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Neurologic Manifestations; Nervous System Diseases; Specific Learning Disorder; Learning Disabilities; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Mental Disorders

Central Study Contacts

Maria Luisa Lorusso, Ph.D

CONTACT

031-877592; marialuisa.lorusso@lanostrafamiglia.it

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NA
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: SUPPORTIVE CARE
• Intervention Model: SINGLE GROUP
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Each of the participants will be tested in two conditions: with personalized parameters and with standard parameters. Their performance in reading and writing to dictation will be compared in a single-group, within-subjects model. A post-hoc comparison will also be conducted to confirm the validity of the procedure by assessing the existence of the predicted between-groups differences in reading and writing performance.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: March 20, 2024
• First Posted: April 27, 2025
• Study Start: February 16, 2023
• Primary Completion: November 1, 2025
• Study Completion: December 31, 2025
• Last Updated: May 4, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-04

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share
• Time Frame: From the publication of the results onwards
• Access Criteria: free access, for anonymous data only

Locations

IT (3)