Flickering white screens may help children with Dyslexia

A new study has found a link between visual white noise and cognitive abilities such as memory, reading and non-word decoding in children with reading and writing difficulties. A study was published in scientific journal 'Brain and Behavior' that proved that white noise improves reading skills and memory recall in children with reading disability. The study was conducted on around 80 students in Smaland region of southern Sweden. The children were selected following a recognition test and were split into three groups: Good readers, children with minor reading difficulties and children with major reading difficulties, these children were asked to read 12 words while being exposed to four different levels of visual white noise, from zero to high. The results showed that the group with major reading difficulties, particularly phonological difficulties, performed significantly better when exposed to visual pixel noise. They read and recalled more words correctly in moderate noise conditions. The white noise had no effects on the good and moderate reader category.