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The auditory neuroscience underlying misophonia can be difficult to understand.

It can be useful to become familiar with terms that are elusive to many with misophonia.

Misophonia involves auditory, emotional, and sensory components.

This is Part 1 of a two-part series.

Sometimes my head just spins as I try to understand misophonia. One of the most difficult areas for me has to do with the auditory neuroscience underlying the condition, since I am less familiar with it than I am with psychology. Most of us don't know auditory neuroscience, and this inhibits our ability to read the research. I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Prashanth Prabhu, who clarified many of these issues for me. He has published over 10 misophonia papers in just the past few years. His knowledge is a goldmine, and his answers provide information that will help you read the research more easily. This post will cover auditory neuroscience, and in my next post, we will discuss Dr. Prabhu’s studies.

Jennifer Brout: Many people find it difficult to understand the difference between an auditory disorder and a neurological disorder (peripheral versus central). Would you explain this? Based on your knowledge, would you say we can rule out peripheral causes for misophonia?

Prashanth Prabhu: I usually explain it this way: The peripheral auditory system includes the outer ear, middle ear, inner ear, and auditory nerve, while the central auditory system refers to the neural pathways and brain regions that process sound after that point, including the brainstem and auditory cortex; a neurological disorder, in a broader sense, means that the nervous system is affected in its structure or function. In misophonia, the present evidence does not show clear peripheral ear damage as the main cause,........

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