A practical tool that uses tones to detect the pain
quality should be made as pain stimuli can be very well distinguished
non-verbally through tones.
According to a pilot study published in the 'Patient Education and Counseling', it is possible to differentiate pain stimuli non-verbally through tones. However, the factor responsible (quality or intensity) for this differentiation is still not known.
For effective chronic pain treatment, not only measuring the quality but its intensity is also necessary. Hence, Patric Bialas et al. examined the non-verbal description of pain quality as per the tones, differentiating between the nociceptive and neuropathic pain.
A total of 80 chronic pain patients and 80 healthy subjects were given nociceptive and a neuropathic pain stimulus. All the participants matched both pain stimuli to an appropriate tone (in Hz) via a tone generator. The NRS-scale and the PainDETECT questionnaire was used to measure the stimulus intensity.
It was found
that both the groups matched a significantly higher tone to the neuropathic as
compared to the nociceptive pain stimulus. The chronic pain patients allocated
higher tones to both pain stimuli as compared to the healthy participants.
Higher values were also revealed for the neuropathic pain stimulus, and chronic
pain patients portraying an overall higher intensity of pain as healthy
participants.
Patient Education and Counseling
Pain in tones – Is it possible to hear the pain quality? A pilot trial
Patric Bialas et al.
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