This is the second ASMR research study published by Dr Agnieszka Janik McErlean (Bath Spa University, UK) and Dr Michael Banissy (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK).

Their prior study was titled, “Assessing individual variation in personality and empathy traits in self-reported ASMR” and was published March 30, 2017 in the journal Multisensory Research.

Their latest study is titled, “Increased misophonia in self-reported ASMR” and was published August 6, 2018 in the journal PeerJ.

Misophonia is common in discussions about ASMR because some people greatly enjoy ASMR trigger sounds like whispering, mouth sounds, and chewing but others will respond to those same sounds with annoyance, anger, or anxiety (misophonia).

Curiously, some people who report experiencing ASMR to some triggers also report experiencing misophonia to other triggers.  This hyper-sensitivity to sounds has people often wondering if people who experience ASMR are more likely to also experience misophonia.

The study involved 64 ASMR-responders recruited from an online ASMR community and 68 non-ASMR-responders (controls) recruited from the local area community (university students and acquaintances).  Ability to experience ASMR was self-determined based on a written description of ASMR.  The participants were 70% female, aged 18-66 years, and had an average age of 27 years.

All participants completed the online Misophonia Questionnaire which consisted of several standardized subscales. These scales consist of reading questions or statements related to misophonia and selecting a response.

For the Misophonia Questionnaire Total:

• ASMR-responders scored higher than controls for misophonia

For the Misophonia Symptom Scale portion:

• 36% of ASMR-responders scored 14 or above
• 22% of controls scored 14 or above
• the difference between ASMR-responders and controls was significant but the difference in the number of people scoring above the cut off scores on this scales was not significant

For the Misophonia Severity Scale portion:

• 12.5% of ASMR-responders scored 7 or above
• 6% of the controls scored 7 or above
• the difference between ASMR-responders and controls was significant but the difference in the number of people scoring above the cut off scores on this scales was not significant

For the Misophonia Emotions and Behaviors Scale portion:

• ASMR-responders scored higher than the control group
• the difference between ASMR-responders and controls was significant but the difference in the number of people scoring above the cut off scores on this scales was not significant

Secondary analysis:

The authors also reported a secondary analysis with ASMR-responders who were recruited from a local, ASMR-naive community rather than an online, ASMR-responder community.  The authors noted that their local recruitment from an ASMR-naive community demonstrated that almost half reported ASMR experiences.

This secondary group of ASMR-responders also showed increased levels of misophonia compared to controls.  Additionally, their misophonia appears to be more pronounced than the primary ASMR-responders.

Summary:

Individuals who experience ASMR do show a tendency of being more likely than non-ASMR-responders to experience misophonia.  This difference was somewhat weak in the primary ASMR-responder group but the difference was greater in the secondary ASMR-responder group.

Individuals recruited from online ASMR communities may have weaker misophonia than ASMR-responding individuals recruited locally.  The authors highlight that online ASMR communities may be more amenable to those with weak misophonia, and deter those with strong misophonia.

Click HERE to read the full manuscript of this research paper.

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