Acoustic Factor in Proof Reading

IN a recent study by the writer1, subjects were required to search through a passage of prose crossing out all the letters “e”. The “e's” which remained uncancelled were analysed and the following conclusions were drawn. (1) Silent “e's” were more likely to remain uncancelled than pronounced “e's”. (2) The actual pronunciation of the “e”, for example, /з/ as in were, /ε/ as in set or /i/ as in seat, did not appear to influence the probability that the “e” would be missed. (3) The later the “e” appeared in a word the more likely it was to remain undetected; and (4) the “e” in “the” was very likely to be missed (32 per cent, compared with 4 per cent for pronounced “e's” and 15 per cent for silent “e's”).