Misophonia.....hatred of sound

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  • CannibalisticVegetarian
    CannibalisticVegetarian Posts: 1,255 Member
    I wouldn't call mines a full blown phobia, but I get quite miffed whenever my brother eats something. Seriously, he smacks on food like he's a effin' monkey! It's gross sounding and shows a lack of table manners/home training. Something about him slurping milk and then smacking on a bowl of cereal especially pisses me off. Who the **** opens their mouth like that to enjoy cereal?!

    What's worse is that I thought he'd had some class about him when it came to publicly eating, but I've been to a restaurant with him in public and have seen him smacking on a piece of meat---LOUDLY and it almost caused me to go ballistic (Possibly more so because people were starting to stare). :angry:

    Rant-fest ovah!
  • roachhaley
    roachhaley Posts: 978 Member
    I've had misophonia since around the age of about 9 or 10 and over the years other trigger noises have begun to affect me other than the initial trigger which was the sound of my dad eating. He has always had bad asthma and cannot eat with his mouth closed as his nose is constantly blocked.

    My parents could never understand why I hated being around certain people eating so much to the point where I'd cry and cover my ears or leave the room altogether if I could.
    I came across the term 'misophonia' in 2009 and it immediately clicked in to place, my reactions to certain sounds were never normal and others couldn't relate to my problems.

    I had some cognitive behavioural therapy sessions in the beginning of this year which were a great help overall but obviously there is no outright cure. Generally my coping methods include using my mp3 player or soft-silicone earplugs. I also enjoy listening to brown or white noise if neither of those help and have an app on my phone from which I can listen to them if my commute home is particularly noisy and stressful.

    My main trigger noises include:

    Lip smacking
    Pen clicking
    Foot tapping
    Leaking headphone music (train commutes are a nightmare!)
    Mobile phone keypad tones
    Pipes which make a knocking sound
    Bassy music from an uncontrollable source such as a nearby party or cars with subwoofers
    Low electrical hums

    The extent to which these sounds affect me are greatly influenced by how tired or stressed out I'm feeling, the more I feel stressed the worse the sounds get to me.

    Many people are irritated by particular sounds (nails on a chalkboard etc) but if those sounds don't make you feel angry to the point of wanting to lash out, cry and run away it's unlikely you have misophonia and just find the sound a bit annoying.
    When you have misophonia you absolutely cannot just ignore the sound, it becomes the only thing you can hear and the only thing you can focus on and nothing will make it feel better until it stops or you are able to get away from it.

    It's a very irrational response and I have no qualms about admitting that it does sound completely absurd, it totally is and many days I've cried and wished I didn't react this way and hated my body for doing so, days where I've wished I were deaf so I wouldn't have to deal with it any more. But yet, some days are better than others and as long as you're prepared and know you can cope with the situation in some way you can get through the day.

    Hope that helps to give more of an insight in to what it's really like!

    Have you found anything to help with this?

    Mine is very intense. I have to plug my ears if I'm eating around people and have thrown fits about people making certain noises/being around those noises. I've full on cried on the train (alone) because there was so much chewing and coughing going on around me.

    I'm going to the doctor in a while so I can talk about possibly getting put on something for my anxiety - I have panic attacks pretty frequently.I feel like that might help the sound issue as well. Hopefully.
  • Felidae106
    Felidae106 Posts: 8 Member

    Have you found anything to help with this?

    Mine is very intense. I have to plug my ears if I'm eating around people and have thrown fits about people making certain noises/being around those noises. I've full on cried on the train (alone) because there was so much chewing and coughing going on around me.

    I'm going to the doctor in a while so I can talk about possibly getting put on something for my anxiety - I have panic attacks pretty frequently.I feel like that might help the sound issue as well. Hopefully.

    As I mentioned the CBT sessions did help a little, they focused mainly on methods of relaxation such as breathing techniques and meditation. The breathing techniques were pretty good, one method was to take in a slow, deep breath for 4 - 5 seconds whilst clenching your hands in to fists, then you breathe out as slowly as you can again for 4 - 5 seconds but this time unclenching the hands and repeat this and try to do so while focusing on yourself and switching the focus from the sound to your breathing. Something like this would probably be quite helpful with your anxiety too, I've had panic attacks in the past and they're really horrible and the breathing control is important.

    I've found the soft silicone earplugs to be very helpful, I have long hair which I always wear down which helps to conceal them, they're soft and mould in to the shape of your ear canal. In situations where I still have to hear what's going on around me I find that I can push them in to my ear and then move the plug slightly so that some sound can still be heard but for the most part a lot of sound is blocked out.

    White noise is good to listen to as it can help you feel calm and focused. I personally prefer brown noise as it's a little deeper and reminds me of the sound of waves crashing on a beach. I use this website sometimes at work: http://playnoise.com/

    I also struggle a lot with travelling as there are always people making sounds that affect me such as the headphone and keypad tone noise, I'm lucky that my fiancé is very understanding so doesn't mind if I listen to my mp3 player to block out sounds, I can usually have music at a volume where I can still hear and talk to him but block out the tinny headphone noise of others.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    I get annoyed by various sounds like the examples given, but don't most people? Being annoyed is different than the people who throw fits from noise.
  • sillygoose1977
    sillygoose1977 Posts: 2,151 Member
    I broke up with a perfectly nice guy once because he chewed so loudly. I wanted to reach across the table and punch him every time we shared a meal.
  • LadyIvysMom
    LadyIvysMom Posts: 391 Member
    I generally want to slap people who smack gum, chew with their mouths open, clear their throat every five seconds, sniffle constantly and breathe through their mouth.
    I broke up with a perfectly nice guy once because he chewed so loudly.

    I walked out on a date once because the guy was chewing his food so loud & I've broken up with guys who smacked gum.

    I'm also autistic though, which is the explanation my dr. gives as to why I get so incredibly annoyed by these things.

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