In busy clinics, audiologists can benefit from brief, patient-centered tools to identify those with hearing difficulties. Pure-tone and speech audiometry measures, as well as self-report measures, require time and significant patient engagement. Visual analog scales have been used in health care as an accessible and simple way to understand patients' multifaceted experiences....
Consider evaluating the Facial Scale of Hearing Difficulty as a quick screening tool in busy clinic settings, particularly for patients who may struggle with traditional written questionnaires; however, await broader validation studies before replacing established tools.
A validated visual screening tool for hearing difficulty could improve patient identification and accessibility in high-volume or linguistically diverse audiology settings.
- 01A new visual scale using face images was developed to screen hearing difficulty in adults — modeled on pain-rating face scales.
- 02Designed for rapid use in busy clinical environments where long questionnaires are impractical.
- 03Developed and validated in a clinical population of adults with hearing loss.
- 04Patient-centered design aims to improve accessibility for low-literacy or non-English-speaking patients.
- 05Published in JAAA; validation scope and psychometric details to be confirmed from full paper.
The Facial Scale of Hearing Difficulty is a valid tool for identifying hearing difficulties in adults in busy clinical settings.
studypartially supportedA brief visual faces scale can effectively capture patient-reported hearing difficulty.
studypartially supported- PMID
- 42403961
- DOI
- 10.3766/jaaa.250043.
- Journal
- Journal of the American Academy of Audiology
- Publication type
- research_article
- Evidence level
- 4
- Population
- Adults with hearing loss in clinical settings
- Intervention
- Facial Scale of Hearing Difficulty (visual faces-based self-report tool)
Primary outcomes
Validity of the Facial Scale of Hearing Difficulty; Ability to identify hearing difficulties in adults