Browsing by Subject "misofonia, valikoiva ääniyliherkkyys"

Objectives. Misophonia is a little known neurophysiological and behavioral syndrome, defined by an oversensitivity to a select group of sounds. Although the syndrome is not included in any international manual of diseases, there is a growing body of empirical evidence delineating its features. The purpose of this review is to briefly introduce and examine the phenomenon, its central features and the ways it has previously been studied. In addition to the symptoms and consequences of misophonia, this review also discusses the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms, as well as whether misophonia should be classified as a discrete psychiatric disorder. Methods. A search was made on the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Helka and Google Scholar using primarily the terms “misophonia” and “misofonia”, and secondarily ”sound sensitivity”, ”hyperacusis” and ”tinnitus”. Recent reviews, experimental studies and survey-based studies were favored. Results and conclusions. Misophonia means oversensitivity to a group of sounds characterized by certain patterns or personal meanings. These are primarily sounds of human origin, especially eating sounds. The sounds trigger an irrationally strong emotional reaction consisting predominantly of anger, irritation or anxiety. This generally leads to avoidance behaviors, but occasionally also verbal or physical aggression. Studies attest that misophonia affects daily functioning in social environments as well as psychological wellbeing. The oversensitivity is not caused by audiological problems; research points to abnormal connectivity between auditory and emotional systems, impairment in early attentional and auditory processes, and activation of the autonomous nervous system. Besides these neurophysiological factors, individual assigned meanings and social contexts also appear to affect misophonic responses. Conditioning has also been suggested as a possible mechanism causing the disorder. Misophonia fits some of the criteria of a mental disorder, but its nature is currently too vague for it to be established as a new diagnostic category. For example, it is not yet clear whether misophonia is a discrete disorder or part of a broader one, nor whether it is psychiatric or neurological by nature.