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Using Neurostimulation to Accelerate Change in Misophonia: a Pilot Study
Sponsor: Duke University
Summary
Misophonia, the inability to tolerate certain repetitive distressing sounds that are common, is gaining, recognition as an impairing condition. It is not a well-understood condition and there are no known treatments. The purpose of this study is to test a new misophonia intervention that uses emotion regulation strategies and different types of brain stimulation on misophonic distress. This study will examine changes in brain activity during presentation and regulation of misophonic versus distressing sounds. The study team plans to alter activity in a key area of the brain responsible for emotion regulation circuitry over 4 sessions with the goal to test if this intervention helps misophonic distress. Sixty adult participants with moderate to severe misophonia will be recruited and taught an emotion regulation skill and randomly assigned to receive one of two types of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The study includes 9-10 visits: the remote screening visit(s), the initial MRI, the four neurostimulation sessions, the follow-up MRI, and two additional remote 1- and 3-month follow-up visits.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - 55 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
60
Start Date
2024-05-14
Completion Date
2026-11-30
Last Updated
2026-03-31
Healthy Volunteers
No
Conditions
Interventions
High Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (HF rTMS)
10 Hz rTMS over the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC)
Sham Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (sham- rTMS)
inactive rTMS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC)
Cognitive Restructuring
Cognitive restructuring is a cognitive behavioral intervention through which participants learn how to think differently about misophonic sound triggers in order to feel less emotional arousal.
Locations (1)
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, North Carolina, United States