When I first heard about the speed reading machine I could not quite understand how it worked. Speed reading is all about reading faster and not loosing any of the comprehension of the text. So I thought that perhaps a speed reading machine was a way of guiding your reading with the techniques of spread reading i.e. the line and card technique and encouraging you to read each line at a glance from the middle of the line, by somehow focusing your attention down the middle of the page and then revealing the text line by line ?. Well, dream on. The speed reading machine has nothing to do with speed reading!

What was described to me as a speed reading machine is in fact just a text converter. It takes text and converts it into audio files which can then be played on your computer, or walkman or MP3 player. This machine is very useful and allows one to be absorbing reading material while on the move, and if you are a slow reader, it is faster than ploughing through the text. Also if children are dyslexic or have been diagnosed with either ADD or ADHD, then it is a good way for the child to get through their studies at a more comparable speed to the other children, and will hopefully stop the child from falling behind in class. However, it will not speed up their reading. If anything, a child who gets used to absorbing text in this manner will not be practicing reading and will probably therefore get slower at reading!

As with all inventions there is definitely a use for it, but probably as an addition to reading, perhaps it should be targeted at those who travel a lot, but maybe not at children. Recent research has suggested that children under the age of 7 should not use a computer as this can delay their reading as they are not training their eyes to focus at the correct distance; also, children learn to read by following their fingers across the page, this teaches the brain the movement of the eyes from left to right. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much equipment there is to help our children, they all need to learn to read. Hence the reading machine, which converts text to audio, may not be doing children any favours.

As an adult however, if you are forever having to sit and dredge through the latest articles in your chosen field, then the a reading machine may allow you to get through more of these as are you can continue to absorb the information when walking, jogging or even at the gym ?.

At the end of the day it seems that although all these gadgets can help, there is nothing like actually being able to read, from there learning to speed read, and then if you really want to maximize your time efficiency, then add a reading machine for times when you are on the move. Unfortunately a reading machine will not teach you to speed read, but it will present information in a readily absorbable format. Perhaps the type of person who is interested in this type of machine is the perfect person to learn to speed read!