Misophonia: physiological investigations and case descriptions

Abstract

Misophonia is a relatively unexplored chronic condition in which a person experiences autonomic arousal (analogous to an involuntary “fight-or-flight” response) to certain innocuous or repetitive sounds such as chewing, pen clicking, and lip smacking. Misophonics report anxiety, panic, and rage when exposed to trigger sounds, compromising their ability to complete everyday tasks and engage in healthy and normal social interactions. Across two experiments, we measured behavioral and physiological characteristics of the condition. Interviews (Experiment 1) with misophonics showed that the most problematic sounds are generally related to other people's behavior (pen clicking, chewing sounds). Misophonics are however not bothered when they produce these “trigger” sounds themselves, and some report mimicry as a coping strategy. Next, (Experiment 2) we tested the hypothesis that misophonics' subjective experiences evoke an anomalous physiological response to certain auditory stimuli. Misophonic individuals showed heightened ratings and skin conductance responses (SCRs) to auditory, but not visual stimuli, relative to a group of typically developed controls, supporting this general viewpoint and indicating that misophonia is a disorder that produces distinct autonomic effects not seen in typically developed individuals.

What is misophonia and how can we treat it?

“…It is now known that the repertoire of trigger sounds reported by people with misophonia can include repetitive and social sounds typically produced by another individual, including eating (chewing/ crunching) sounds, pen clicking, clock ticking, finger tapping, whistling and lip smacking. Even the unavoidable noise produced by footsteps has been reported by a few people [8] as a potential trigger for intense aversive responses, including emotional reactions of irritability and anger. Interestingly, these symptoms do not seem to be associated with fear (thus distinguishing misophonia from phonophobia).…”

“…Since the first scientific descriptions by Jastreboff [1][2][3], there have been a few case reports [4][5][6] and original studies [7,8] focusing on this condition. It is now known that the repertoire of trigger sounds reported by people with misophonia can include repetitive and social sounds typically produced by another individual, including eating (chewing/ crunching) sounds, pen clicking, clock ticking, finger tapping, whistling and lip smacking.…”

“…However, misophonia differs from tinnitus in a crucial aspect: it is triggered by external, human-produced sounds and situations, rather than focusing on internally perceived, abstract sounds. The catalog of conditions included in the differential diagnosis of misophonia encompasses specific phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, personality disorders (emotionally unstable, borderline, antisocial and obsessive compulsive personality disorder), autistic spectrum disorders, sensory processing disorders, phonophobia and synesthesia [7,8]. Moreover, recent reports have suggested that misophonic symptoms could be ascribed to the wider clinical spectrum of Gilles de la Tourette syndrome [10][11][12][13][14], obsessive compulsive disorder [7,[14][15][16], generalized anxiety disorder and schizotypal personality disorder [17].…”

Misofonia: Quando o som não embala mas abala

“…Em estudo realizado em 2011, foi percebido que as características acústicas relevantes dos sons desagradáveis podem ser encontradas na informação do pitch e numa área de frequência entre 2000 e 4000 Hz, na qual o ouvido humano é mais sensível 11 . Os sons que mais frequentemente induzem a misofonia são sons corporais, especialmente aqueles associados com alimentação e respiração 5 . Outros sons que também induzem essa condição incluem sons repetitivos, como batidas de leve ou cliques com a caneta…”

The Neural Underpinnings of Vicarious Experience

“…(3) The investigation of atypical vicarious experiences in the general population such as shared touch (Banissy and Ward, 2013) and pain and how feeling the pain of others may be linked with self-other confusion and prior pain experience (Derbyshire et al, 2013). Through to a physiological study exploring the experience of misophonia, describing a sensitivity to sound that can substantially limit ones ability to interact with others (Edelstein et al, 2013), and a commentary of why vicarious perception may drive contagious scratching ; (4) The discussion of vicarious experiences in atypical populations including evidence against an impairment in shared neural networks in ASD and an argument for how models of vicarious pain experience may help us understand the relationship between core ASD symptoms better ; (5) Finally, the role of vicarious experience including vicarious motor system activation in understanding the behaviors of others (Avenanti et al, 2013) and how group membership may influence such processing and influence how we interact with others (Eres and Molenberghs, 2013).…”