Stages of Scientific Understanding of Misophonia

• Denial

  Before the 2000s, misophonia was not recognised (https://www.tinnitusclinicminnesota.com/misophonia-overview/).

• Sound processing

  In the early 2000s, misophonia was miscategorised as a form of decreased sound tolerance (https://leader.pubs.asha.org/doi/10.1044/leader.FTR1.08202003.4).

• Neurological

  In 2017, the brain basis paper was published. Neural correlates, both functional and structural, were identified.

• Mirroring

  In 2021, the mirroring paper was published. Misophonia was linked to hypermirroring.

• Social cognition

  A 2023 preprint puts forward a general social cognition perspective on misophonia.

Science is clearly getting closer to an accurate understanding of the nature of misophonia.

Note how the level of abstraction gets higher, from the 2017 brain basis paper through to the social cognition preprint. This tracks with the context-dependent nature of triggers and the perception of interpersonal transgression that goes along with them.