Auditory brainstem functioning in individuals with misophonia

Misophonia is not investigated much from an audiological perspective. Our study aims to examine the processing of the auditory retro-cochlear pathways in individuals with misophonia.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among university students who had misophonia. The revised Amsterdam Misophonia Scale was used to determine the severity of misophonia. Participants were divided into mild and moderate-severe misophonia and compared with the healthy control group. Auditory Brainstem Response testing was recorded from all the individuals with misophonia. The absolute latency, amplitude, inter-peak latency difference, and inter-rate latency difference were compared between the groups.

One-way ANOVA result showed no significant difference in all the parameters of auditory brainstem response between the groups. These results are suggestive of normal brainstem processing in individuals with misophonia.

The study concludes that the auditory pathway up to brainstem areas is intact in individuals with misophonia. Further studies are essential on a larger population for generalizing the results.