Strongly disliked music has the capacity to evoke strong negative emotions and physical sensations—at least in some listeners. Although previous (qualitative) studies on disliked music have provided valuable descriptions of listeners’ experiences, more generalizable approaches are needed for understanding individual differences in the intensity of music-evoked aversive experiences. This study set out to explore these individual differences by developing a standardized questionnaire to measure the intensity of aversive musical experiences, the Aversive Musical Experience Scale (AMES). Furthermore, we explored the hypothesized predictors and potential underlying mechanisms (such as emotional contagion and a general sensitivity to sounds) by measuring trait emotional contagion, misophonia, tendency to experience autonomous sensory meridian responses (ASMR) and frissons, and personality. Based on the results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, a final 18-item version of AMES was constructed, comprising three subscales: Sensations, Social, and Features. Misophonia and emotional contagion emerged as the strongest predictors of global AMES and its subscales. Furthermore, the personality traits of neuroticism, agreeableness, and openness to experience, as well as age and musical expertise emerged as significant predictors of at least one of the scales. The implications and limitations of the findings are discussed with respect to sound-sensitivity, music-induced emotions, and personality theory.

中文翻译：

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厌恶音乐体验量表（AMES）：测量音乐引起的厌恶强度的个体差异

强烈不喜欢的音乐有能力唤起强烈的负面情绪和身体感觉——至少对一些听众来说是这样。尽管之前对不喜欢的音乐的（定性）研究为听众的体验提供了有价值的描述，但需要更通用的方法来理解音乐引起的厌恶体验强度的个体差异。本研究旨在通过开发标准化问卷来衡量厌恶音乐体验的强度，即厌恶音乐体验量表（AMES），来探索这些个体差异。此外，我们通过测量特征情绪传染、恐声症、体验自主感觉经络反应（ASMR）和颤抖的倾向以及人格，探索了假设的预测因素和潜在的潜在机制（例如情绪传染和对声音的普遍敏感性）。根据探索性和验证性因素分析的结果，构建了包含 18 个项目的 AMES 最终版本，包括三个分量表：感觉、社交和特征。恐音症和情绪感染成为全球 AMES 及其子量表的最强预测因子。此外，神经质、宜人性、对经验的开放性等人格特征，以及年龄和音乐专业知识，都成为至少其中一个音阶的重要预测因素。讨论了声音敏感性、音乐诱发的情绪和人格理论方面的研究结果的含义和局限性。