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

Abstract 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.