How common is misophonia? Many consider it a rare disease, and on Rare Disease Day (the last day of February), many on the Facebook misophonia group express a desire to speak out about misophonia. In the United States, a rare disease is officially defined as one that affects less than 200,000 people, which is about one in 1,500 people (0.07%). By this definition misophonia is not a rare disease. It is a “rarely known” disorder.
In February 2013, an independent survey examining characteristics associated with misophonia was conducted by Tom Dozier, founder of the Misophonia Institute. The survey explored how misophonia develops and whether individuals with misophonia share common traits. To establish a comparison group, the survey was distributed to a professional network not specifically focused on misophonia. Unexpectedly, approximately 5% of respondents reported misophonic reactions, suggesting that misophonia may be more common than previously assumed. Individuals reporting misophonia appeared across a wide range of backgrounds.
A subsequent survey was conducted using SurveyMonkey.com, which recruits participants with no known connection to misophonia. Participants completed surveys in exchange for a small charitable donation. Care was taken to ensure that the survey title did not reference sound or sensory sensitivity. The same survey was also administered to individuals known to have misophonia to establish a reference standard. Of the 310 participants surveyed (50% women, 50% men), 15.2% demonstrated responses consistent with misophonia. The prevalence was higher among women (18.6%) than men (11.6%).[i] Rather than being a rare disease affecting one in 1,500 individuals, the findings suggested misophonia was a rarely known but relatively common disorder.
This prevalence was higher than anticipated. While an estimate of 5% to 10% had been expected, the results indicated a rate closer to 15%. In 2014, a peer-reviewed study conducted by the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine and Department of Psychology further supported these findings. The study included nearly 500 undergraduate psychology students, a common population in academic research. Approximately 84% of participants were women. The researchers assessed the degree to which misophonia affected daily functioning and found that 20% of participants experienced clinically significant misophonia,[ii] meaning they had to spend a good deal of conscious energy resisting or being affected by triggers. They did not find any statistical difference in the prevalence of misophonia between men and women.
Additional support for a high prevalence of misophonia comes from a blog post published by the family ancestry website 23andMe.com. The post referenced an internal study of approximately 80,000 customers who were asked, “Does the sound of other people chewing fill you with rage?” Approximately 20% of respondents answered yes. The affirmative response was more common among women.[iii] When “not sure” responses were excluded, the effective rate of affirmative responses was closer to 19%.
Further evidence comes from a 2015 PhD dissertation examining decreased sound tolerance, including hyperacusis, tinnitus, and misophonia. The study reported that 15.6% of participants—drawn from both college and community populations—met criteria for clinically significant misophonia [iv]. While a higher percentage of males reported symptoms, females reported greater severity. These findings further support the conclusion that misophonia is more common than previously believed.
Taken together, these data suggest that misophonia may affect approximately 15% of adults, or roughly one in every 6.5 individuals. Although the condition appears to be more common—or at least more severe—among women, many individuals experience misophonia without recognition or diagnosis and are often labeled as irritable or overly sensitive. As emerging research increasingly suggests, misophonia may affect as many as 40 million people in the United States alone.
Given the limited awareness and study of misophonia, it is statistically more likely that a randomly selected individual would have misophonia than that a randomly selected healthcare provider would be familiar with the condition.
[i] Dozier, 2014
[ii] Wu, Lewin, Murphy, & Storch, 2014
[iii] Accessed from http://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/something-to-chew-on/ on June 7,2015
[iv] Cash, 2015