Around 18% of the individuals in our research had been more likely to have misophonia. silverkblackstock/ Shutterstock
Many of us have sounds that we discover to be annoying. But for some individuals, sure sounds really set off excessive reactions. It’s a dysfunction generally known as misophonia, the place feels like chewing, sniffing and pen clicking may cause intense emotional reactions – and typically even bodily reactions, resembling an elevated coronary heart fee and spike in blood stress.
As it seems, this situation is extra widespread than many realise, as our latest research confirmed. We estimate that almost one in 5 adults within the UK might have misophonia.
To conduct our research, a survey was accomplished by 772 individuals, who had been chosen to create a pattern that represented the UK inhabitants by way of age, gender and ethnicity. The survey included a brand new questionnaire known as the S-Five, a software which helps us measure an individual’s probability of getting misophonia.
The S-Five contains 25 statements, asking how members react to varied sounds and the impact it has on them. For instance, the survey included statements resembling, “If I can’t keep away from sure sounds, I really feel helpless” and “My job alternatives are restricted due to my response to sure noises”.
Participants had been requested to fee how true every assertion was for them on a scale from zero to 10 (ten being very true). The survey additionally contained an inventory of 37 widespread set off sounds – resembling loud chewing and repetitive sniffing – and members had been requested to pick out their typical emotional response to these sounds (together with a “no feeling” choice).
They had been then requested to fee the depth of their response to every sound on a scale from zero to 10. The survey additionally requested members whether or not they had been presently experiencing signs of melancholy and nervousness.
In addition to the survey, psychologists interviewed a number of 29 individuals from the survey pattern, plus an extra 26 individuals who self-identified with having misophonia. The psychologists requested extra detailed questions concerning the individual’s reactions to sounds and the influence of those reactions.
At the top of the interviews, the psychologists rated whether or not they thought the individual had misophonia or not, primarily based on the character of their reactions and the way a lot they prevented issues or wanted methods to have the ability to deal with sure sounds. The info from these interviews was then used to discover a cut-off rating for misophonia on the S-Five survey, which in flip was used to search out the prevalence of misophonia.
For the needs of our research, we thought-about somebody more likely to have misophonia in the event that they constantly reported that listening to sure sounds had a major burden on them and affected their day by day life. We additionally included individuals with “sub-clinical” misophonia – which is when sounds trigger a major downside, however don’t have an effect on their day by day life.
We had been capable of estimate that round 18% of the members in our pattern had been more likely to have misophonia. There was no distinction between women and men by way of the prevalence and severity of misophonia. Age had some relationship to an individual’s probability of experiencing misophonia, with individuals reporting much less extreme reactions the older they had been.
We additionally discovered that slightly below 14% of members had been conversant in the time period misophonia, which implies there are more likely to be many individuals who’ve intense reactions to sounds however don’t but know the time period to explain this downside.
Pen clicking, sniffing and chewing are all widespread set off noises for individuals with misophonia.
Scott Graham/ Unsplash
These outcomes are just like what different research have discovered. One US research confirmed that 17.3% of a normal inhabitants pattern had misophonia. They additionally discovered that these with misophonia had been barely youthful than these with out.
The prevalence of misophonia was larger in girls than males, in contrast to our research which discovered no distinction. Another US-based research discovered that solely round 11% of their members had been conversant in the time period misophonia.
Annoying noises
Finding sure sounds annoying doesn’t essentially imply you could have misophonia. Our research confirmed that 85% of individuals discover feels like chewing, sniffing and canine barking repeatedly (all widespread misophonia set off sounds) to be annoying. An additional 75% of individuals had an issue with slurping, loud respiratory and coughing.
It’s the character of how an individual reacts to such sounds that determines if they’ve misophonia. While the common individual may react to sounds resembling loud chewing with irritation and disgust, individuals with misophonia will react with anger or panic to the identical sounds, as our earlier research confirmed.
People with misophonia can also really feel trapped or helpless once they can’t keep away from sure sounds. They may also fear about having aggressive outbursts, really feel unhealthy about their reactions and miss out on social occasions on account of these triggering sounds.
Misophonia was first recognised in 2001, however was solely simply acknowledged as a dysfunction in 2022. It’s no marvel that many individuals – even these severely affected by misophonia – are unaware of it. We hope that our research might present some consolation to individuals who thought they had been alone of their excessive reactions to on a regular basis sounds.
We additionally hope our research will increase consciousness of the situation, so that folks with misophonia can get the assistance they want. While there’s no signal of a remedy in sight, cognitive behavioural remedy might assist cut back the severity of misophonia.
Jane Gregory receives funding from The Wellcome Trust and is on the scientific advisory board for SoQuiet, a misophonia charity.
The analysis was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre and the Wellcome Trust.
