Sample Movies with Unpleasant and Misophonic Sounds

This resource contains a few sample movies which play misophonic (or unpleasant) sounds with videos depicting plausible neutral sources for the sounds. See the README file for information about each video. The original recordings from which these sounds were taken are movies of misophonic sounds with misophonic videos, which are available in a separate folder. As of 2025, these movies were used as experimental stimuli in two research studies, listed below.
TRIGGER WARNING: stimuli on this page contain misophonic trigger sounds, images, or words. The immediate aim of the videos is to make the sounds less unpleasant in the moment, and our research shows that it works for both misophonic and nonmisophonic observers. But there is no guarantee that it will work for everyone.

Please cite the database below to use these stimuli.This is a full open-access dataset to all 44 of the videos developed for research:
Heller, Laurie M.; Oszczapinska, Urszula; Smith, Jessica; Julien, Megan (2025). Supplementary Data: Reassigning sources of misophonic trigger sounds to change their pleasantness. Carnegie Mellon University. Collection.
https://doi.org/10.1184/R1/c.7112221
1) Below is a research study that reports that these movies can cause either pupil dilation or constriction with the same misophonic sounds, depending on the video condition:
Visual disgust constricts pupils in response to misophonic moviesYuqi Qiu, Sungjoon Park, Urszula Oszczapinska, Laurie M. HellerFront. Psychol., Sec. Auditory Cognitive Neuroscience, 04 August 2025Volume 16 - 2025 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1569598

2) Below is a research study that describes the development of these movies, and it also reports 9 behavioral studies which validate their effectiveness for misophonic and nonmisophonic participants.
Reassigning sources of misophonic trigger sounds to change their unpleasantness: Testing alternative mechanisms with a new set of movies, paintings, and words
Laurie M. Heller ,Urszula Oszczapinska ,Jessica M. Smith ,Megan M. Julien
PLOS One, 18 April 2025, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321594

3) Below are two other studies on misophonia from our lab that don't use these videos:
A study showing how disgust towards sound alone affects pupils.
The impact of disgusting sounds on pupil diameter of misophonic and non-misophonic listeners
U Oszczapinska, S Park, Y Qiu, B Nance, M Julien, LM Heller (2025).
Psychophysiology, 62: e70014. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70014

A study showing how sound unpleasantness is determined by the perceived source of the sound, whether or not it is identified correctly:
Identification of everyday sounds affects their pleasantness
LM Heller, JM Smith
Frontiers in Psychology, 2022, 13:894034. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.894034