Background and Purpose: Misophonia is characterized by a negative reaction to triggering stimuli. Although it can be hypothesized that attentional shifts toward triggering stimuli can influence cognitive performance in individuals with misophonia, the present study focused on evaluating the baseline working memory ability and listening effort of individuals with typical hearing with and without misophonia in the absence of such triggers. Research Design: Data were collected using a standard group comparison design and nonprobability purposive sampling method. Study Sample: The current study comprised 30 participants 1830years of age who were divided into two groups of 15 each. Data Collection: Working memory was assessed using the forward digit span, backward digit span, ascending digit span, and descending digit span. Listening effort was measured using the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Task Load Index (TLX) after completion of each task. These tests were conducted in the absence of triggers. Results: It was found that the working memory ability measured using digit span tests was comparable (p 0.05) between groups with and without misophonia. No statistically significant difference (p 0.05) in NASA TLX scores was observed between these groups. Conclusions: Individuals with and without misophonia have comparable working memory ability and listening effort while performing simple working memory tasks, which could be attributed to the noncontinuous nature of misophonia. To generalize these findings, further research of a wider population is required.
Adline et al. (Thu,) studied this question.