Using Neurostimulation to Accelerate Change in Misophonia: a Pilot Study

Summary

Misophonia, the inability to tolerate certain repetitive distressing sounds that are common, is gaining, recognition as an impairing condition. It is not a well-understood condition and there are no known treatments. The purpose of this study is to test a new misophonia intervention that uses emotion regulation strategies and different types of brain stimulation on misophonic distress. This study will examine changes in brain activity during presentation and regulation of misophonic versus distressing sounds. The study team plans to alter activity in a key area of the brain responsible for emotion regulation circuitry over 4 sessions with the goal to test if this intervention helps misophonic distress.

Sixty adult participants with moderate to severe misophonia will be recruited and taught an emotion regulation skill and randomly assigned to receive one of two types of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The study includes 9-10 visits: the remote screening visit(s), the initial MRI, the four neurostimulation sessions, the follow-up MRI, and two additional remote 1- and 3-month follow-up visits.

Conditions

• Misophonia
• Emotion Dysregulation
• Sensory Processing Disorder
• Auditory Over Responsivity
• Anxiety Disorder
• Sound Sensitivity

Interventions

DEVICE

High Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (HF rTMS)

10 Hz rTMS over the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC)

DEVICE

Sham Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (sham- rTMS)

inactive rTMS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC)

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Restructuring

Cognitive restructuring is a cognitive behavioral intervention through which participants learn how to think differently about misophonic sound triggers in order to feel less emotional arousal.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Misophonia Research Fund

  collaborator OTHER

• Duke University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Andrada D Neacsiu, PhD · Duke University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

55 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-05-14

Primary Completion

2026-07-30

Completion

2026-11-30

FDA Device

Yes

Countries

• United States

Study Locations