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Nearly 1 In 5 UK Adults Experience Negative Responses to Sounds

by Dr. Jayashree Gopinath on Mar 26 2023 8:17 PM
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 Nearly 1 In 5 UK Adults Experience Negative Responses to Sounds
The estimated prevalence of people who experience strong negative reactions when hearing certain commonsounds, such as chewing or sniffing, which were the symptoms of misophonia cause a significant burden in their life in the UK was estimated to be 18%.
This finding was according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE that utilizes a multidimensional psychometric tool, the S-Five, to explore the intensity of the triggering misophonic sounds in everyday activities.

Misophonia: When Sounds Do Make You Crazy

Misophonia is recognized as a disorder characterized by a disproportionate emotional response to everyday sounds. The response can range from mild irritation to anger and distress and can result in impairment to social and occupational functioning.

Common manifestations of misophonia include feelings of anger, disgust, and anxiety; muscle tension; avoidance of triggering stimuli, withdrawal from social situations and, in some cases, verbal and physical aggression.

There’s little research on the prevalence of misophonia in a general population, though previous studies have reported estimates ranging from 5-20 percent within specific samples, such as university students.

Here, researchers surveyed a sample representative of the UK general population. Of the 768 people surveyed, 51 percent identified as women, 48 percent as men, and 4 identified as non-binary/other. The mean age was 46.4. 13.6 percent of the sample was aware of the term misophonia before the survey, with 2.3 percent self-identifying as having misophonia.

Prevalence of Misophonia in the UK

The survey asked about common “trigger sounds” and asked respondents to describe their emotional response and its intensity using a 10-point scale. They also asked people about how these sounds affect their life, the way they see themselves, and their personal and professional relationships.

They conducted interviews with 26 self-identified individuals with misophonia and 29 individuals from the general survey pool to establish a cut-off score for significant symptoms of misophonia. The new questionnaire allows researchers and clinicians to measure these aspects of misophonia and see how things change over time.

They found that 18 percent of their sample appeared to have significant symptoms of misophonia, which can include feeling trapped or helpless around these sounds, as well as blaming yourself for the strong reactions and missing out on things because of the impact of sounds.

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While there were no significant differences in the prevalence of misophonia based on gender, individuals above the threshold for misophonia were an average of 3.3 years younger than those below the threshold, a small but significant difference.

Though these results are specific to the UK, so may not be generalizable across countries and cultures. This survey tool may be useful to clinicians working in the misophonia field. Misophonia is more than just being annoyed by certain sounds, it’s about feeling trapped or helpless when you can’t get away from these sounds and missing out on things because of this.

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It can be such a relief to find out that you are not alone, and that other people react this way to sounds too. To find out that there is a word for what you are experiencing.



Source-Eurekalert


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