Findings shed light on a widespread condition still not well understood by parents, educators, and policymakers
Teens for Education and Advocacy on Misophonia
Brea, CA, Aug. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BREA, Calif. (August 11, 2026) — Teens for Education and Advocacy on Misophonia (TEAM), the nation’s first non-profit organization focused on supporting teens with misophonia, today released new findings from “A Survey of Teens on Misophonia and Sound Sensitivity: What Teens Want When Sounds Become Too Much.” The survey gathered teen responses through paid advertising on TikTok; it is a non-scientific, informational snapshot rather than a clinical study. The full survey can be viewed and downloaded here.
Key findings include:
• 77% say the hardest part of misophonia is that people think they’re overreacting or being rude.
• 64% report trouble focusing in class, and 60% feel ashamed.
• 65% chose a socially safe exit — more than every other option combined — as what would help most in a hard moment.
• Family meals are the situation teens most want help with; 70% named the dinner table as a top challenge.
• Teens trust other teens most: 63% trust their peers’ real experiences, compared with just 32% for clinicians/experts and 11% for school counselors/teachers.
“Despite many teenagers being impacted so severely by misophonia, we are still in the early stages of understanding this mysterious disorder,” said Sophie B. Yang, founder of TEAM. “There’s still surprisingly little first-person research from teens, which our survey is meant to help address. We decided to ask them directly — some questions let them respond in their own words — in hopes their answers can help shed light on what they’re truly feeling.”
Since launching in early 2024, TEAM has pursued two goals: removing the stigma and mystery around misophonia through the latest research on its causes and treatment, and advocating for greater research funding and public awareness of the disorder.
Yang, a senior at Valencia High School in Placentia, is an Orange County teen who has personally experienced the disruptive effects of misophonia. Her advocacy has led to interviews with Vox, Spectrum News Los Angeles, LA Weekly and Psychology Today, and to collaborations with organizations including soQuiet, the Misophonia Research Foundation and Duke University’s Center for Misophonia and Emotional Regulation (CMER).
“I’m truly grateful that everyone I’ve spoken with has shown a genuine willingness to learn more about this condition,” Yang said. “Even in the past couple of years, we’ve seen more articles published about misophonia, along with celebrities speaking about their own struggles. But these survey responses show we still have a lot of work to do.”
Misophonia is a condition marked by strong physiological, emotional and behavioral reactions to certain stimuli, usually specific sounds. Despite its growing prevalence, little is known about the disorder, and it is not yet included in standard classification systems such as the DSM-5-TR. The largest study on misophonia to date, using a nationally representative U.S. sample (Dixon et al., 2024), found that 4.6% of the U.S. population may have clinically significant levels of misophonia.
For more information about TEAM, please visit https://www.teenmiso.org/. To view the full survey results and download a PDF, please visit https://www.teenmiso.org/survey.
About TEAM
Teens for Education and Advocacy on Misophonia (TEAM) is the nation’s first non-profit organization solely focused on supporting teenagers with misophonia. During these key formative years, conditions like misophonia can be especially disabling and disruptive. TEAM works to remove the mystery and stigma surrounding misophonia while advocating for greater attention from researchers, government and educational institutions. Learn more at https://www.teenmiso.org/.
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