Readability assessment of online patient education materials from academic otolaryngology-head and neck surgery departments

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the readability of online patient education materials among academic otolaryngology departments in the mid-Atlantic region, with the purpose of determining whether these commonly used online resources were written at a level readily understood by the average American. Methods: A readability analysis of online patient education materials was performed using several commonly used readability assessments including the Flesch Reading Ease Score, the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Simple Measure of Gobbledygook, Gunning Frequency of Gobbledygook, the New Dale-Chall Test, the Coleman-Liau Index, the New Fog Count, the Raygor Readability Estimate, the FORCAST test, and the Fry Graph. Results: Most patient education materials from these programs were written at or above an 11th grade reading level, considerably above National Institutes of Health guidelines for recommended difficulty. Conclusions: Patient educational materials from academic otolaryngology Web sites are written at too difficult a reading level for a significant portion of patients and can be simplified.