Where are we at with misophonia research?
Where are we at with misophonia research?
© Lev Golgachov
Misophonia, although now more widely known, is still a condition without a satisfactory therapy. Sufferers endure strong negative feelings (such as disgust), while feeling hyperalert and stressed to the sudden onset of certain noises. Often, the only recourse is to simply escape. Currently, it is unknown how many people suffer from misophonia, and the estimates can vary broadly. A study from 2024, which recruited 4005 people to resemble the population of the United States, estimated that 4.6% of the group had misophonia and symptoms were higher in women (1).
The noises themselves do not appear to be anything too egregious, such as the sound of chewing, yawning, snoring, or the clicking of a pen. However, for the misophone, the noise marks an immediate sense of extreme discomfort and unlike with other aversive noises, there is an inability to habituate or simply get used to it.
While effective therapy is still light on the ground, we should be encouraged that there has been a lot of research in the last nine years. Neuroscience studies have shown that the auditory cortex in both misophones and non-misophones are functionally comparable when trigger noises are heard (2). This suggests that the problem is not so much the processing of the noise, but higher order functioning.
This has been demonstrated in other studies, where we see that misophones have hyperactivity in the Anterior Insular Cortex (3), increased neural connectivity between the orofacial motor area and the auditory cortex (2&3), and greater white matter volumes in the fronto-occipital fasciculus, anterior thalamic radiation, and the body of the corpus callosum (4) The recruitment of these areas when the trigger noise is heard, along with functional differences in communication pathways, shows that the misophone is exercising an emotional response that is at least partially based in the consideration of the person making the noise.
The trigger examples listed above are notably all noises made by somebody else, and so it makes sense that the misophonic response recruits areas that apply a social or personal meaning to the noise. The meaning is not obvious – even though misophones love their families, they still have to actively avoid them if there is a chance they will hear the trigger noise. It takes an understanding family to acknowledge this struggle without taking offense to the avoidance. The understanding that somebody you care about views a noise you make with disgust is hard not to take personally.
As misophonia, in all likelihood, has impacted people for centuries but has only been recognized recently, there is every possibility that answers about the condition could come from other places. Autists are known to have a high prevalence of misophonia (5), and there is a known difficulty for autists to understand and interpret social situations. So, while those with misophonia might not necessarily meet an autism diagnosis, the wealth of literature attempting to understand how autists approach social situations could provide some clues regarding trigger formation. In addition, the desire for the misophone to escape from the noise, which is caused by the actions of an “other”, meets the definition for feelings of intrusion (6). Many studies are available to explore how intrusive memories and thoughts can be ameliorated to maintain a standard of living.
There is hope and I am convinced an effective therapy is not too far away. It may even be as simple as drinking lavender tea (7).
References
1. Dixon, L. J., Schadegg, M. J., Clark, H. L., Sevier, C. J., & Witcraft, S. M. (2024). Prevalence, phenomenology, and impact of misophonia in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 133(5), 403–412. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000904
2. Kumar, S., Dheerendra, P., Erfanian, M., Benzaquén, E., Sedley, W., Gander, P. E., ... & Griffiths, T. D. (2021). The motor basis for misophonia. Journal of neuroscience, 41(26), 5762-5770.
3. Kumar, S., Tansley-Hancock, O., Sedley, W., Winston, J. S., Callaghan, M. F., Allen, M., ... & Griffiths, T. D. (2017). The brain basis for misophonia. Current Biology, 27(4), 527-533.
4. Eijsker, N., Schröder, A., Liebrand, L. C., Smit, D. J., van Wingen, G., & Denys, D. (2021). White matter abnormalities in misophonia. NeuroImage: Clinical, 32, 102787.
5. Dwyer, P., Williams, Z. J., Vukusic, S., Saron, C. D., & Rivera, S. M. (2023). Habituation of auditory responses in young autistic and neurotypical children. Autism Research, 16(10), 1903-1923.
6. Brewin, C. R., Gregory, J. D., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010). Intrusive images in psychological disorders: characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological review, 117(1), 210.
7. Gokbel, S. K., & Durat, G. (2026). The effect of lavender herbal tea on the mental health of individuals with misophonia: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Psychiatric Research.