Laurie Heller Is Changing How We Understand, and Potentially Treat, Misophonia

Throughout her career, Laurie Heller has listened closely — not just to words, but to sound itself. In the Auditory Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, the psychology professor explores how the brain interprets everything from environmental clatter to the subtle noises that can spark deep feelings of safety, connection, or in some cases, rage.

So when Yuqi “Monica” Qiu, then an undergraduate in computer science, emailed Heller after seeing a recruitment poster for a study, Heller was ready to listen.

“I have misophonia,” Qiu wrote. “And I want to help.”

That message resonated. Their collaboration, which built on years of Heller’s work, would yield a groundbreaking study on misophonia, a condition where everyday sounds, like chewing or pen clicking, trigger intense negative emotional reactions. The team used a technique called pupillometry, which measures pupil size as a marker for emotional and cognitive responses. It allowed them to see how people with misophonia physically responded to unpleasant sounds.

What they found supported previous research that indicated that people with misophonia don't  just say they experience stronger emotional reactions to certain sounds — their bodies reveal it, too. In the paper, the researchers found that emotional and physiological responses to sounds can change when those sounds are reinterpreted in a new context. This could help pave the way for diagnostic tools and noninvasive treatment strategies. 

“It’s rare for an undergraduate to be first author on a paper, but Monica earned it,” Heller said. “She brought lived experience, technical talent and unwavering curiosity. And she stuck with the project all through her undergrad.”

There’s more to sound than meets the eye (or ear)

Heller estimates that at least 5% of young adults in the United States experience misophonia. They don’t just dislike sounds like chewing or pen clicking. Sounds can trigger real emotional or even physical discomfort, interfering with work, relationships and daily life.

Despite its impact, misophonia is not yet listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the widely used reference for diagnosing mental health conditions. Heller thinks it should be. 

“If a condition is recognized in the DSM, it opens the door to health care, therapy and accommodations — all the things people need to manage it,” Heller said. “With misophonia, everyone knows it’s real, but because it’s not formally recognized yet, it puts people in a really tough spot.”

But to advocate for that kind of recognition, researchers first need a deeper understanding of what’s going on in the brain.

Movie magic

Heller and her team tested whether visual reframing could help people with misophonia. They created videos that paired unpleasant sounds like crunching food or cracking knuckles with carefully selected visuals, such as someone shaking a plastic bottle full of beads. Participants watched the videos and rated how disgusting they found the sounds.

The results showed that many participants rated the same sounds as significantly less unpleasant when they were visually reframed.