Participants
Participants for the study were recruited either by advertisements on
internet websites/social media platforms that served the purpose of
being misophonia support groups: ‘sounds like misophonia’
(https://soundslikemisophonia.com/); ‘Allergic to Sound’
(https://allergictosound.com/), or by sending emails to volunteers
registered with the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University
(UK). A total of 816 participants took part in completing the online
questionnaire. However, in guidance with exclusion criteria,
participants were removed from analysis if they: (i) did not give
informed consent (n = 20), (ii) were under the age of 18 years
(n = 106), or (iii) if the data were duplicated (n = 14).
Data from a final total of 676 participants (505 (74.7%) females, 166
(24.6%) males and 5 (0.7%) ‘other’/ ‘preferred not to disclose
gender’) were entered into the analysis. Participants were aged between
18 and 81 years (mean = 38.39 years, SD = 16.10).
Participants were asked if they had any other neurological/psychological
disorder besides misophonia, 453 (67%) reported ‘no’, 203 (30%)
reported ‘yes’, and 20 (3%) ‘preferred not to say’. Meaning over half
of the participants did not indicate having any other
neurological/psychological disorders outside of their misophonia. An
incentive was offered to participants where they could enter a prize
draw to win one of three £20 Amazon vouchers for their participation.