How Readable Are Deaf/HH Blogs? See Score Results

Since there are many more blogs run by deaf or hard of hearing bloggers than a year ago, I decided to use this neat and informational website where it uses the Gunning-Fog Index to determine readability of texts written in blogs or just about any website. Just enter your favorite blogsites using the URL addresses and see what scores come up based on the different formulation used. Professional editors often use readability formulas to gauge how well writers are meeting an audience's reading levels, and one of the most famous of readability formulas is Gunning's Fog Index.

The premise here is that the bigger the words bloggers use along with their more complex sentences, the more difficult those blogs are to read for average readers, or so we think. The higher the score, the more complex it becomes regarding the use of the English language and structure. The lower the score, the more simplistic it becomes in the use of the English language and structure. Note the differences between comic book and Atlantic Monthly. The Gunning-Fog Index is a proven method of analyzing written material to see how easy it is to read and understand.

Gunning-Fog Results "Grade level" or "reading level" on Well Known Magazines.

15 - 20 - Academic papers
14 — The Times, The Guardian
11 — Wall Street Journal
10 — Newsweek, Time
9 — Popular novels
8 — Ladies' Home Journal, Reader's Digest
7 — True Confessions
6 — Comic books, TV Guides, Bible, Mark Twain

I tracked down some of the well known and/or popular deaf blogs to determine their readability and reading level of their contents needed to understand what was written. Ranking goes from the highest to lowest on the Gunning-Fog Index score. The result is the Gunning-Fog index, "which is a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content."


Gunning-Fog Index Score Results on Deaf/HH Blogs

Mr. Sandman's Sandbox - 12.79

Deaf Attorneys - 12. 52

Kokonut Pundits - 11.49

DeafDC - 11.09

Deaf in the City - 10.98

Buck Naked Bison - 10.91

ASL Community Journal Blog - 10.90

Quiescent Voices - 10.85

Deaf Firefighter's Blog - 10.80

Kalalau's Korner - 10.64

DHH - CommUNITY - 10.60

Berke Outspoken - 10.54

Bionic Ear Blog - 10.34

Sonny James - 10.23

Banjo's World - 9.98

sComm Blog - 9.91

Semi-Cathartic Skribblings - 9.80

Jason's Ruminations - 9.55

Drolz Uncensored - 9.40

Bibliomarket - 9.27

Testing the Truth - 9.15

A Deaf Mom Shares Her World - 9.03

Tactile Junkie - 9.08

Deafscribe - 8.83

DeafBiz - 8.78

Deaf in the City - 8.73

Grant Laird Jr - 8.63

Semi-Cathartic Skribblings - 8.53

Ridor Live - 8.48

Gnarleydorkete - 7.88

Tactile Junkie - 7.46

Daveynin's Thing - 6.93

It's My Life..Don't You Forget - 5.17


Try it. See what your score is for your blog on readability.