👓Bionic Reading Converter

About this tool

Paste your text and the preview bolds the opening letters of every word. Use the slider to bold more or less of each word, choose the boldness and preview size, then copy it as formatted text that pastes with the bold intact into most editors and email clients, as HTML for a website, or as Markdown.

What bionic-style reading is and does it work?

Bionic-style text bolds the first few letters of each word, creating what its promoters call artificial fixation points. The idea is that your eyes jump between the bold anchors while your brain fills in the rest of each word from context, so you can move through text with less effort. The format was popularised by a Swiss company under the trademarked name Bionic Reading, and many readers say it helps them skim or keep their place, particularly in long blocks of text. The evidence is more cautious. Controlled studies published so far have generally found no reliable improvement in reading speed or comprehension on average, and some found a small slowdown. Individual experience varies, so it's worth trying on your own reading to see whether it suits you. It's best treated as a personal preference rather than a proven technique, and it isn't a treatment for dyslexia or ADHD. The converter bolds about 45% of each word by default, one letter of short words, and never the whole of a longer word. Text inside HTML is escaped safely, and line breaks are kept. Honest limits: screen readers read the converted text normally, but heavy bolding can reduce contrast and readability for some people, so don't apply it to text others must read without offering the original. "Bionic Reading" is a trademark of its owners; this is an independent tool. The speed reader and the readability checker are related.

Frequently asked questions