Is closing your eyes and listening to someone read a better test of intelligibility than reading aloud to yourself? I think so, in that it can be easier to fool yourself into thinking that you've understood something when you flyby-eyeball it.

Hmm. On the one hand, I'd get pretty impatient with that really quickly, especially given how many words I use that wouldn't be in its dictionary. On the other hand, if it inspires me to err on the side of terse and simple English, that might be a good thing.

It does give me another good idea, though: I can print out a paper copy. With my academic papers, at least, I notice all sorts of things in print that I gloss over when it's on a screen.