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A case of acquired amusia and misophonia following right temporal resection
Journal article   Peer reviewed

A case of acquired amusia and misophonia following right temporal resection

Emily R. Dappen, Joel I. Berger, Amy M Belfi, Joel Bruss, Timothy D. Griffiths, Alexander J. Billig, Ariane E. Rhone, Kirill V. Nourski, Daniel Tranel and Brian J. Dlouhy
Hearing research, Vol.469, 109483
01/2026
DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2025.109483
PMCID: PMC12707295
PMID: 41313951
url
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12707295/View
Open Access

Abstract

•Acquired amusia and misophonia were observed following right cortical resection.•Specific music deficits were present while other auditory processes were preserved.•This is the first documented case of acquired misophonia in the literature. Our perception of the auditory world allows us to enjoy the richness of music and communicate effectively with others. These everyday processes are disrupted in conditions such as amusia, an inability to perceive music accurately, and misophonia, an intense emotional reaction to common sounds produced by others. We describe a case of acquired, concurrent amusia and misophonia in a 21-year-old right-handed woman following a right posterior insula, posterior temporal, supramarginal cortex, and sensory cortex for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy. The patient participated in interviews between 4-8 months post-resection and completed an extensive testing battery designed to characterize her acquired deficits and increased sensitivity to misophonic triggers. Assessment revealed significant deficits in several domains of music processing, including scale, key, contour, and interval. High levels of misophonia symptom severity and impairment indicated clinically elevated misophonia. The patient performed within the normal range for speech-in-babble perception and music reward despite self-reporting pertinent impairments. Performance on tonal beat perception, musical imagery, memory, and sophistication measures were average. The extensive testing battery highlights the contribution of the resected regions to normal music perception. Additionally, this case represents the first reported instance of acquired misophonia.
 Epilepsy Music Neurosurgery auditory perception cortex lesion posterior insula

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