Abstract
<p>Objectives: This study presents a publicly available standardised set of auditory-visual stimuli specifically designed for misophonia research. This was done with the purpose of addressing some of the main limitations of current databases available, namely the lack of standardised, lab-curated, and ecologically valid auditory-visual databases.Method: The database is comprised of 250 videos categorised into six categories, according to the Sussex Misophonia Scale (SMS; Simner et al., 2024): 1) eating, 2) repetitive tapping, 3) rustling, 4) mouth/nose, 5) throat, and 6) neutral (non-triggers). Four non-professional actors (2 males and 2 females) were filmed preforming scripted main events (e.g., eating an apple). To gather further information regarding the emotional responses our database videos elicited, we conducted an online study where 96 participants (32 with misophonia, 31 with misophonia-misokinesia (combined), and 33 control participants) rated each database video on their arousal (emotional intensity), valence (pleasantness), and dominance (sense of control). Results: Participants with misophonia and those with both misophonia and misokinesia exhibited significantly higher arousal, lower valence, and reduced dominance compared to controls when attending to the database videos. These differences were most profound in the eating category. Examining pairwise correlations between the affective dimensions revealed across all groups that arousal was negatively correlated with both valence and dominance, while valence and dominance were positively correlated. Conclusion: The SAVi-M database provides researchers with a standardised, ecologically valid, and behaviourally rated set of auditory-visual stimuli. Using affective response ratings based on the Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) model, the database offers a new approach of quantifying the behavioural/emotional response in misophonia. The SAVi-M database can be utilised to enhance exploration of misophonia from a multisensory approach.</p>