A Factor Structure within Misophonia: The Sussex Misophonia Scale for researchers and clinicians
Misophonia is an unusually strong aversion to a specific class of sounds -- most often human bodily sounds such as chewing, crunching, or breathing. A number of questionnaires exist to diagnose misophonia, but few have been validated, and fewer still show any factor structure within the symptoms of the condition. Here we present a novel tool, the Sussex Misophonia Scale, which represents all key theme from previous questionnaires within a single easy-to-use measure. We validated our questionnaire in a sample of 501 adults, including people with and without misophonia. Our exploratory factor analyses revealed five factors tied to misophonia (Feelings/ Isolation; Life consequences; Intersocial reactivity; Avoidance/ Repulsion; Pain). Receiver Operator Characteristic showed our questionnaire to be an excellent measure for identifying people with misophonia, and we present it here with its diagnostic threshold for researchers and clinicians.