Comparative Evaluation of Text and Audio Simplification: A Methodological Replication Study

This study serves as a methodological replication of Leroy et al.’s (2022) research, which investigated the impact of text simplification on healthcare information comprehension in the evolving multimedia landscape. Building upon the original study’s insights, our replication study evaluates audio content, recognizing its increasing importance in disseminating healthcare information in the digital age. Specifically, we explored the influence of text simplification on perceived and actual difficulty when users engage with audio content automatically generated from that text. Our replication involved 44 participants for whom we assessed their comprehension of healthcare information presented as audio created using Leroy et al.’s (2022) original and simplified texts. The findings from our study highlight the effectiveness of text simplification in enhancing perceived understandability and actual comprehension, aligning with the original study’s results. Additionally, we examined the role of education level and language proficiency, shedding light on their potential impact on healthcare information access and understanding. This research underscores the practical value of text simplification tools in promoting health literacy. It suggests the need for tailored communication strategies to reach diverse audiences effectively in the healthcare domain.