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Paunović and Milenković 2021 findings on misophonia symptoms, noise sensitivity, and noise annoyance

Paunović and Milenković (2021) found that high perceived misophonia was associated with greater annoyance from several common environmental noise sources, except entertainment venues, and that misophonia symptoms were positively related to noise sensitivity, anxiety, and depression. High noise sensitivity predicted annoyance across most sources, depression was linked specifically to annoyance from humans and animals, anxiety showed no association, and males reported greater annoyance from construction noise. The authors conclude that misophonia and noise sensitivity independently contribute to noise annoyance, operate independently of age, gender, anxiety, and depression, and may lie on a broader spectrum of environment-related intolerances, while acknowledging that reverse causation cannot be ruled out. (Paunović & Milenković, 2021)

Heightened General Auditory Reactivity in Misophonia

A study examining responses to everyday environmental noise sources found that individuals reporting higher levels of misophonia experienced greater annoyance from several common environmental sounds compared to individuals with lower misophonia levels. These results suggest that misophonia may involve heightened reactivity to a broad range of auditory stimuli, rather than responses restricted only to classic trigger sounds. (Paunović & Milenković, 2021)

Misophonia, Noise Sensitivity, Anxiety, and Depression

Research investigating psychological correlates of misophonia found that misophonia symptoms were positively associated with noise sensitivity, anxiety, and depression. Additional analyses showed that depression was specifically related to annoyance from human and animal sounds, while anxiety did not independently predict annoyance responses across sound sources. These findings suggest that emotional vulnerabilities may overlap with misophonia symptoms in some individuals. (Paunović & Milenković, 2021)

General Noise Sensitivity and Environmental Sound Annoyance

A study of environmental sound annoyance found that noise sensitivity strongly predicted annoyance across most environmental sound sources. The authors concluded that misophonia and noise sensitivity independently contribute to perceived noise annoyance and may lie along a broader spectrum of environment-related intolerance to sound. (Paunović & Milenković, 2021)