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Misophonia, Phonophobia, and “Exploding Head” Syndrome

  • Chapter
Textbook of Tinnitus

Keypoints

  1. 1.

    Misophonia, phonophobia, and “exploding head” syndrome have symptoms that may occur together with some forms of tinnitus or they can occur alone.

  2. 2.

    These sensations are different from hyperacusis which is a lowered tolerance to most kinds of sounds.

  3. 3.

    Misophonia is a dislike of specific kinds of sounds.

  4. 4.

    Attempts have been made to treat misophonia using the same methods as used for treating tinnitus.

  5. 5.

    Phonophobia is a fear of specific sounds related to the implication of the sounds.

  6. 6.

    The non-classical auditory pathways providing a subcortical route to the amygdala may be involved in phonophobia.

  7. 7.

    The “exploding head” syndrome is the experience of a very loud and sudden noise that seems to originate from within the head. It often occurs during sleep and wakes up the individual.

  8. 8.

    The “exploding head” syndrome may have similarities with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD).

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Abbreviations

CNS:

Central nervous system

DST:

Decreased sound tolerance

RDB:

REM sleep behavior disorder

REM:

Rapid eye movement (sleep)

TRT:

Tinnitus retraining therapy

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, GR 41, 800 W Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA

    Aage R. Møller

Authors
  1. Aage R. Møller
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Correspondence to Aage R. Møller .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, USAUSA

    Aage R. Møller

  2. Department of Psychiatry Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Berthold Langguth

  3. BRAI2N/TRI Tinnitus Clinic and Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Antwerp, Wilrijkstraat 10, 2650, Edegem, Belgium

    Dirk De Ridder

  4. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

    Tobias Kleinjung

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Møller, A.R. (2011). Misophonia, Phonophobia, and “Exploding Head” Syndrome. In: Møller, A.R., Langguth, B., De Ridder, D., Kleinjung, T. (eds) Textbook of Tinnitus. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-145-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-145-5_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-60761-144-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-60761-145-5

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