title: Visual analog scale in hearing loss.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine if visual analog scale (VAS) that has been used to measure magnitude of internal states such as pain, mood and various functional capabilities can be applied for patients with hearing loss.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and sixty patients, aged 12-80 years with unilateral hearing loss were studied using a VAS (1-10) and pure tone audiometry (PTA) of responses to 500, 1,000 and 2,000 Hz to determine degree and type of hearing loss. The results of both were compared to determine if VAS can be used in measuring hearing loss.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with mild, moderate hearing loss correlate well with corresponding VAS but other degrees of hearing loss (severe and profound) have poor correlation. The best correlation between PTA and VAS were found in conductive type of hearing loss.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study suggest that there may be a role for VAS in mild and moderate hearing loss. This may be more applicable in rural setting as a screening procedure when audiometry is not available and can enhance clinical hearing assessment especially in mild-to-moderate conductive hearing loss.
authors.affiliation: Department of ENT, University Malaya Medical Centre, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Samril
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bokari
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Prepageran
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raman
keywords: Hearing loss; Visual analog scale