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Adeel [0:00]: Hi, this is my name is Sukhbinder Kumar and I'm involved in misophonia research and I hear misophonia podcasts on and off and I like it very much. Thank you very much for doing this great work.
B2e2 [0:14]: Welcome to the second episode of Between Two Ears, where I go a little bit off the cuff and talk about my thoughts about misophonia kind of outside the regular interview format. So this short episode, I want to share a little bit about a recent trip I took actually last week to Iowa City, Iowa, and where I participated in a research study on misophonia. The study was led by Dr. Sukhpinder Kumar, and you might recognize that name from his landmark paper, The Brain Basis of Misophonia, followed by The Motor Basis of Misophonia, which explored the role of mirror neurons in our reactions to trigger sounds. This new project... It's kind of a next step from that. Instead of focusing solely on neural mechanisms, it's turning its attention towards the social context around triggers. There were actually two studies going on simultaneously at the University of Iowa. But the one, well, one of the ones I was in was Dr. Kumaris, and I'll talk a little bit about that. it involved a couple of surveys and then traveling to iowa city i actually did two sessions so it was two sessions of over an hour inside an mri chamber and some of that time i was exposed to all the classic trigger sounds eating chewing tapping you get the idea i know it sounds like hell and in some ways In some ways it was, but, well, I mean, imagine the MRI machine is already quite loud. It's already pretty uncomfortable. It's definitely not for super claustrophobic people. And then you are stuck in there with things attached to you like pulse oximeters and other sensors on your skin. Then you get bombarded with not just sounds, but visuals of those sounds. but yeah i drove several hours to do this um because i i believe in this research and i believe in the possibility that participating in these studies will bring us closer to answers now i want to say it sounds terrible but uh you know it was not some kind of uh didn't feel like an ambush which is kind of like what triggers normally feel everything was explained up front i knew exactly what i was walking into and for how long i knew i was explaining exactly how long each of the tests was going to be within that hour you know there's no trick or surprise i was safe at the ethical and also honestly knowing that you're going to be triggered for a certain period of time actually kind of helps the recovery from the triggers and the reactions which I don't know if that affects the studies I was definitely triggered so I am hoping at least a lot of my whatever the brain activity is during triggers was captured in the images um you know just overall just want to say from start to finish the experience was very well organized iowa city is also a great little town this particular university's newer science center seems to be like practically brand new well equipped there's a lot of serious work going on all the investigators and researchers assistants were amazing super smart respectful and deeply committed And it was paid. I got to stay in Iowa City for one night, paid for by the study. There was also some other stipends. But honestly, the true highlight was I had the honor to actually meet Dr. Kumar after the second test in person for the first time after obviously hearing about him for so long and engaging. uh exchanging some emails over the years uh you know i actually got to sit in his office um the man you know a man who really always a key person in kind of kick-starting misophonia research with the multiple landmark studies um is uh like i said it's definitely an honor we talked about everything uh the science the lived experience the potential childhood origins And, you know, I get to share, you know, some deeply personal and painful stories from my childhood that I think are connected to how I experience misophonia today. And based on many of the interviews you hear here, my story is no different than others. So it was just great to talk to Dr. Kumar one-on-one about that. Dr. Kumar and I both agree that reactions to misophonia aren't fundamentally about sound or audio, and visual triggers are not fundamentally about what's being seen. I've said it before many times on this podcast, I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years this condition goes by a totally different name, something more general and deeper than just selective sound sensitivity or hatred of sound. So if you're in that area, Iowa City, or you're willing to travel like I did and want to participate in this kind of research, I highly recommend reaching out to their lab. Obviously, like I said before, it's not all an easy experience, but it'll benefit the community and your own self-understanding, I think. So don't be reflexively dismissive about studies like this or any other misfunny studies or afraid of being triggered. And like I said, think of it as having a time limit and know that it's kind of all for a good cause. I posted some photos on social media. on Instagram and Facebook and whatnot. But me in the MRI room and me and Dr. Kumar. And yeah, check it out if you want. And Dr. Kumar, if you're listening, thank you. Thanks for everything you do. Thanks to your lab, your team, AJ, Hannah, and everyone else I met. And yeah, I'm grateful for the team. I'm grateful for Dr. Kumar for actually like thinking outside the box, thinking creatively beyond just sound. It's refreshing and reassuring to know that there are people thinking like that because we definitely need more creative thinking in this space. All right. That's it for Between Two Ears, episode two. Just want to get that experience off my chest. Let me know what you think and take care of yourself and talk to you soon. Bye.
Unknown Speaker [6:42]: Thank you.