Misophonia is characterised by intense and involuntary stress responses (disgust, anger, or even panic) to certain, often human-made, sounds (e.g., chewing). The grant will be used to (i) develop webcam-basedpupillometry as a sensitive, affordable and objective measurement tool of the misophonic response, and (ii) characterise the subcortical neuromodulatory mechanisms with 7T fMRI.
The apple of my eye: measuring, characterizing, and attenuating the pupil-linked misophonic stress response
Dr. de Gee’s Misophonia Research Impact Award builds on prior findings showing that pupil-size changes in response to trigger sounds can predict misophonia severity. This study will refine and validate an affordable, home-based tool to measure the physiological response to trigger sounds. The team will then expand the work to include brain imaging to identify patterns of brain activity associated with these physiological responses.
The Misophonia Research Fund is focused on advancing scientific breakthroughs and ending suffering from misophonia. They support research investigating the causes of misophonia and look for effective, evidence-based treatments.
Source: Swammerdam Insitute for Life Sciences
Image: Adobe Stock