Body

In a 2020 study of three individuals with misophonia, Dozier and colleagues found that misophonic triggers elicited immediate, visible muscle contractions that were individualized in location and occurred reliably whenever participants rated their physical response as moderately strong (≥4), while no such responses appeared in controls. One participant showed consistent EMG-detected muscle activation across trigger types, another showed EMG activation only at higher intensities, and a third displayed visible but not EMG-detectable responses; controls showed no EMG activity. Auditory response latencies of ~150–200 ms (and ~300 ms for visual stimuli) indicated a rapid, reflexive mechanism rather than secondary emotional arousal. Together, these findings provided objective evidence that misophonic triggers can elicit an immediate, individualized skeletal muscle reflex, supporting the authors’ conclusion that misophonic stimuli evoke an elicited physical response. (Dozier et al., 2020)