Anyone having any leads on a 'reading time algorithm'?

Question

Just curious how to calculate the length of time it would take someone to read a paragraph with x characters and/or y words. Any thoughts on this?

Answer 1

I would toss the X characters idea. Humans don't read on a character by character basis; we recognize entire words as a whole per se.

Check this article on rates of reading. Studies showed a range of reading rates (measured in words per minute) based on the purpose for reading. We read slower if we are trying to maximize the amount of information we absorb, and very fast if we are searching for something in particular within a given text.

With that, you could use the average range to provide a range of time that a person would be expected to read your paragraph in given Y number of words.

If you want to get more accurate, you will have to add extra parameters, such as:

• Language of text vs. major language of reader
• Reading ability of reader
• Reader fatigue
• Average word length
• Average word complexity (difficult to calculate)