Chomping. Slurping. Swallowing. If these sounds unleash acute rage, anxiety or panic within you, you might be suffering from misophonia – a mysterious affliction in which harmless sounds invoke extreme emotional reactions. The condition affects a surprising large number of people – nearly one in five of us – yet few know they are sufferers and awareness is low; perhaps because misophonia itself is relatively new; the term wasn’t coined until 2002.
Misophonia – when harmless sounds invoke extreme emotional reactions
The most common emotional triggers are eating sounds, including lip smacking and swallowing; breathing sounds, such as nostril noises and sneezing; and hand sounds, such as typing and pen clicking. Theories about how misophonia takes hold are still being developed, but research suggests that it typically presents in late childhood and is often associated with family members.
What causes misophonia?
You would be forgiven for thinking that this is a lot of hot air – surely, chewing and slurping sounds can annoy anyone, so how can you tell if your reactions are strong enough to be misophonia? What matters, say experts, is the intensity of your reaction and how much it interferes with your daily life. Studies of people with misophonia have isolated one thing in common – a hyperconnectivity between the auditory system and the limbic system, a part of the brain responsible for generating emotions.
‘For people with misophonia, these kinds of reactions happen with everyday sounds most people barely notice, like eating, breathing, loud footsteps and rustling chip packets,’ says Dr Jane Gregory, a clinical psychologist at the University of Oxford and author of Sounds Like Misophonia: How to Stop Small Noises from Causing Extreme Reactions (Green Tree).
‘At the more severe end of the spectrum, they can experience a fight or flight type reaction, and if flight is not possible, the reaction can spiral, leading to feeling trapped and like they might explode. That might mean a panic attack, snapping and saying something they regret (or don’t), or feeling like they might burst into tears or lose their mind.’
How do you treat misophonia?
There are strategies to try - introducing background music during meals; or walking away and deep breathing. CBT can also be helpful. But simply understanding the condition in itself – and knowing it has a name - is often a great relief to sufferers. One researcher, who recently realised he has misophonia, outlines how he spent years battling ‘the incredulity factor’: ‘I couldn’t understand why friends and relatives just didn’t get as upset at what I considered rude behaviours.’
Often mistaken for: hyperacusis, hearing disorder in which all sounds seem unbearably loud.
For more information: soundslikemisophonia.com
