The pediatric misophonia and hyperacusis questionnaire (PMHQ): a screening tool inspired by the MisoQuest and hyperacusis questionnaire

Decreased Sound Tolerance (DST) conditions often emerge in childhood, making early identification and treatment important. This paper details the development and validation of the Paediatric Misophonia and Hyperacusis Questionnaire (PMHQ), a dual DST parent-report screening tool intended to provide early identification of misophonia and hyperacusis among children with and without autism age 6-17 years.
Three studies were completed including (1) content development with input from audiology experts (n = 9) and parents of children with DST conditions (n = 20); (2) content revision to improve relevance to autism with input from parents of children with autism (n = 15); and (3) psychometric analysis of item characteristics of the PMHQ based on responses from parents of children age 6-17 years (n = 200).
The PMHQ-4 demonstrates adequate psychometric properties at the item level (item discrimination, difficulty, item information function) and at the test level (test information function). A definitive version of the PMHQ with recommended cut-off scores for each subscale is provided.
The resulting PMHQ-4 is a 14-item screening tool comprised of 8 misophonia and 6 hyperacusis items. The PMHQ-4 can provide a valid measure of misophonia and hyperacusis for children age 6-17 years. Further evaluation is warranted in clinical DST samples.