argument that abnormalities in arousal rather than valence are the key differentiator for the misophonia response

Savard et al. (2026) examined physiological responses to misophonic trigger sounds and to other disliked sounds in individuals with misophonia. The disliked sounds seemed to produce a mild orienting reaction, shown by a slowing of heart rate, without the strong physiological activation that would recruit the sympathetic nervous system. Trigger sounds, in contrast, produced unusually strong activation in the misophonia group. The authors proposed that heightened arousal, and not unpleasantness alone, may be what sets the misophonic response apart. (Savard et al., 2026)