Shadow

I´ve long puzzled at Carver´s Rauding Theory of reading — which is a theory about reading speed and flexibility. The term “Rauding” is obviously coined by Carver, but it wasn´t until today that I found where it came from.

Reading Sticht et al (1984, Chapter 10 of Handbook of reading research, 1st ed) “Listening and reading”, I was struck by the word “auding” in one of the subtitles, and discovered a literature in the 70s on how fast can people comprehend compressed speech signals.

“Carver (1973a, b) and Sticht et al (1974) reviewed extensive research, using time-compressed speech to accelerate spoken-word rates to as fast as 500 wpm with little signal distortion. Using this approach, it has been found that both auding and reading comprehension rate for college level readers are optimal at around 300 wpm.”

Undoubtedly, rauding=R(eading)+auding.

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