Misophonia Research: Understanding and Treating the Disorder
Misophonia is a disorder of emotion processing in which ordinary day-to-day sounds cause distress to the point that it has debilitating effects on the occupational, social, and domestic life of the sufferer. Recent research efforts are focused on better understanding the psychological factors underlying misophonia, developing diagnostic tools, and assessing interventional strategies to treat those with the disorder.
Interdisciplinary Approaches to Misophonia Research
“An Inter-Disciplinary Study Characterizing Misophonia Across Nations and Across the Lifespan,” led by Drs. Howard Berenbaum and Fatima Husain at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is one such project. This research, funded by the Misophonia Research Fund, applies an inter-disciplinary approach to explore similarities and differences in misophonia across countries (in three different continents) and across the lifespan.
Each section of the study takes about 2 hours, and participants receive $100 for completing both sections. Researchers in the Interoception Lab at the University of Iowa are also conducting a brain imaging study to understand how the brain processes common sounds that are heard on a daily basis.
Participants in the Iowa study complete questionnaires (taking about 20 minutes), and if eligible, an MRI brain scanning session is arranged. The MRI session requires a single visit lasting 1 hour. Participants are paid $10 for completion of the questionnaires and an additional $20 for MRI scanning.
Key Findings from Brain Imaging Studies
This project served an important role in the research on misophonia by allowing researchers to understand what happens in the brain and body of misophones while hearing a trigger sound. Specifically, Kumar et al. used fMRI, MRI, and physiological measurements to examine trigger-related-responses in the brain and body.
This project investigated the role that the mirror neuron system has in misophonia responses, given that most trigger sounds are produced by orofacial movements. Resting state fMRI and sound-evoked fMRI responses were analyzed. Misophonia subjects compared to control subjects showed:
- Stronger resting-state fMRI connectivity between auditory/visual cortex with the ventral premotor cortex (related to orofacial movements).
- Stronger connectivity between the auditory cortex and orofacial motor area.
- Stronger activation in the orofacial motor area in response to trigger sounds.
Funding Opportunities for Misophonia Research
The Misophonia Research Fund supports innovative research to acquire important initial datasets to seed larger projects. The fund has identified four broad scientific areas where they see potential for high impact advances in the science and treatment development for misophonia:
- Focus on interdisciplinary science and collaboration
- Build a fundamental understanding of misophonia
- Support the development of diagnostic tools
- Drive increased rigor in misophonia clinical studies
The Misophonia Research Fund intends to fund several awards to better understand misophonia, characterize symptomatology and associated impairments, and assess interventional strategies to treat those with the disorder.
Available Awards
The Misophonia Research Fund offers several awards to support research in this field:
- Misophonia Research Impact Award: Up to $500,000 USD for investigator research grants across 2-3 years and up to $200,000 USD for postdoctoral research grants across 2-3 years.
- Misophonia Data Discovery Award: Up to $75,000 USD for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and independent investigators across 1-2 years.
- Misophonia Research Consortium Award: Up to $1,500,000 USD for teams of two or more independent investigators engaged in team science.
These funding opportunities aim to drive increased rigor in misophonia clinical studies and support the development of diagnostic tools.