TEAM Interview with Adeel Ahmad, founder of the Misophonia Podcast, where they have candid conversations with people living with Misophonia every week.
Find all their links to podcasts, social media channels and their website at: https://linktr.ee/misophoniapodcast
Q: How did you come up with the idea for your podcast?
Ahmad: We came up with the idea during a happy hour at the Misophonia Association convention in 2019! A few of us were sharing stories, and some were incredibly poignant, dramatic and emotional spanning many decades. I just knew that these stories needed to be heard because so many people living with it, and feeling lonely, would be able to relate to the emotions.
Q: Do you personally have Misophonia, or does someone close to you have it?
Ahmad: Yes, I do have Misophonia.
Q: When did you officially launch and who was your first guest?
Ahmad: I launched just a few weeks after I came up with the idea, in November of 2019. My first guest was a young woman in Colorado named Gisselle.
Q: How have you seen the reception and awareness of Misophonia change?
Ahmad: I think the awareness has increased a lot since the launch of our podcast, certainly not all due to the podcast of course. There's also been more research dollars pouring into studying the condition. There have been books, like “Sounds Like Misophonia” by Dr. Jane Gregory and I. But I think with social media and the podcast, people are hearing stories that are similar to their own and it is empowering.
Q: Speaking of that, have you heard from any listeners with interesting stories to share about how your podcast helped them?
Ahmad: I get a lot of private messages from people who say they relate to specific episodes, or that they binge-listen and are bawling by the end because they finally feel understood. It's mainly been this piece of validation that the podcast has given people that has helped them get through difficult moments. I've also heard of people feeling empowered to tell their parents for the first time in several decades and it's been a life-changing experience.
Q: I read your pinned X/tweet about how you carefully edit every episode to remove potential trigger sounds. What are the challenges that come from a format that also can be a trigger for this condition?
Ahmad: It's hard because a nasty mouth sound can be incredibly distracting for someone listening with misophonia. That's why I try to take them out. There will always be people who will be bothered by maybe the voice of the guest (or my voice!), so for those listeners I've worked hard to send them accurate transcripts.
Q: Have you seen benefits from new tech tools or AI that enable your show?
Ahmad: Yes, our transcripts are AI-generated and are far better than anything short of a human transcription. AI also helps to summarize the show to help people figure out if they'd be interested in a particular episode. And stay tuned because this year I'll be using AI to dive into data from the podcast to look for trends and correlations. I'll be doing this and more through an entity I'm calling the Research Arm of the Misophonia Podcast (RAMP).
Q: When thinking of the limited time people have in a day to dedicate towards various forms of media, how do you think you can continue to attract a consistent listenership?
Ahmad: I think by consistently pumping out interviews with people all over the world generates so much audio and text content via the transcriptions, that people are learning about the podcast through different ways, podcast catchers, search engines, and soon AI tools and articles I'll be creating around the topics we cover on the podcast. I think providing authentic and meaningful information that people with misophonia can rely on will keep attracting new listeners.
---
If you’ve enjoyed this interview, please be sure to follow, listen, support and donate to the Misophonia Podcast.
Comments