Influence of Script Type (Devanagari vs. Romanized Hindi) on Health App Readability

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Dr Amit Kumar Jain
DCSE, Roorkee Institute of Technology, Roorkee,
Uttarakhand, India
amitkumarjain.cse@ritrroorkee.com

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) applications are increasingly localized for Indian users, yet the choice of script—native Devanagari or Romanized Hindi (often called “Hinglish”)—remains contested for readability and comprehension. This study investigates whether script choice influences reading speed, comprehension, perceived usability, and cognitive load when interacting with a Hindi health information app. In a within-subjects, counterbalanced experiment (N = 240 adult Hindi speakers), participants completed two comparable health-education tasks: one presented in Devanagari and the other in Romanized Hindi. Outcome measures included words-per-minute (WPM) reading speed, comprehension quiz accuracy, System Usability Scale (SUS) score, and NASA-TLX mental demand. Paired comparisons showed Devanagari yielded higher reading speed (M = 172.4 vs. 147.8 WPM), better comprehension (84.1% vs. 78.3%), lower mental demand (37.2 vs. 45.9), and slightly higher SUS (78.6 vs. 74.2), all p < .01. Mixed-effects models suggested script familiarity moderated effects: participants with higher habitual use of Romanized Hindi showed attenuated differences in speed and SUS. Findings indicate Devanagari is, on average, more readable for Hindi-dominant adults in health apps, though audience segmentation by script familiarity can reduce penalties for Romanized content. Designers should default to Devanagari for core content, optionally offering a toggle to Romanized Hindi for users who prefer it.

Keywords

mHealth, Readability, Hindi, Devanagari, Romanized Hindi, Usability, Cognitive Load, Health Literacy, Localization, India

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