To the Misophonia Community,
I, Shaylynn Hayes-Raymond am reaching out to thank all of our wonderful donors, community members, clinicians, and misophonia parents for following us on our non-profit journey. We have had a wonderful year, and hope to have more wonderful years to come. In 2024 we were happy to offer the following Grants and Assistive Technology to persons with misophonia. Next year we hope to give back more, so thank you to our donors for helping make the following gifts and grants possible.
• Soundcore Anker Life Q20 Hybrid Active Noise Cancelling Headphones
• Grey Weighted Blanket
• Loop Quiet 2 Ear Plugs
• Loop Quiet 2 Ear Plugs
• Misophonia Matters (Print Edition) (x2)
• Access to pro-bono courses and therapy sessions (roughly 100 hours, $125 each)
• Pro-bono access to misophonia teen group class (2 grants given, $600 each)
We are also thrilled to announce that we have made numerous strides in our advocacy, education and research goals in the past two years. The following are just some of our highlights, a list we are excited to grow upon in 2025 and beyond:
We made several strides toward our mission goals in the past year:
▪ Facilitated research studies and surveys on misophonia, misokinesia, and sensory processing disorders (we have completed 3 studies ready for the next part of analysis)
▪ Began a machine-learning study to identify the acoustic properties of trigger-sounds
▪ Developed books and materials related to misophonia (Misophonia Matters published in March and we have another instalment coming out in October)
▪ Hosted an on online web conference in May (2024)
▪ Currently planning a second conference for research / community (for 2025, details to come soon)
▪ Provided a Clinician Directory for persons with misophonia to find clinicians that is actively updated
▪ Actively facilitating and promoting petitions that serve the misophonia/misokinesia/sensory communities (currently we have a petition to get misophonia in the DSM and ICD); supported the effort by So Quiet and Duke in their ICD-11 proposal.
▪ Created an Independent Review Board (IRB) for misophonia research and created an academic journal for misophonia and developing guidance for editors of this journal – with plans to begin in Spring 2025
▪ Provided a web blog and news website that publishes the voices of sufferers of misophonia, their loved ones, clinicians, and researchers at www.misophoniainternational.com (pre-dates the IMF)
▪ Developed a web show for persons with misophonia, loved-ones, researchers and clinicians that is widely accessible and free and includes live Q&A. This show is also released at times through a podcast.
▪ A mix of free and paid webinars to provide education to clinicians, parents, teens, and adults with misophonia
▪ Provided free counselling sessions to persons with misophonia.
▪ Developed classes for clinicians, parents, and adults/teens with misophonia
▪ Created resources for researchers, clinicians, and sufferers of misophonia
▪ Provided assistive technology for coping with misophonia/misokinesia such as headphones, sensory regulation items, earplugs, and other useful tools for coping (we made donations of earplugs, earbuds, headphones, and a laptop).
▪ Contacted developers of operating systems, gaming systems, software, websites, and other technology to advocate for more sensory friendly design. Petitioned Apple (as well as other companies) to remove visual triggers such as blinking caret. Apple has implemented this in their mobile and computers, and Microsoft has marked the blinking caret as a bug to be fixed. We are currently in talks with Affinity, Adobe, and other companies for these triggers.
▪ Consulted with other Misophonia organizations, researchers and practitioners and reached out to offer a community approach (misophonia alliance)
This is just some of the work we have been doing! As you can see, we’ve been quite busy, but we’re excited to continue our work. If you would like to support us, all donations go toward our mission goals. Every single dollar counts– did you know it costs $1 to run 1 hour of machine learning research? Every $1 is at least 1 hour of misophonia research!
I would again like to thank all of our supporters in 2025. You are the reason we continue, both morally and financially, your support is the essence of our organization. From the bottom of my heart: thank you, and happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Shaylynn Hayes-Raymond
