Misophonia, literally “hatred of sound”

Imagine you’re sitting in a library and you’re trying to read, but you hear someone chewing their gum with their mouth open. The words on the page blur as the sound of the chewing coats your entire being to where you cannot concentrate and you get physically angry. Sound like something you might relate to? You might have Misophonia.

I have Misophonia and it took years to figure out what it was I was dealing with. I finally came upon a few websites that explained what it was, and I was relieved to find out that what I had was a real disorder. Via Wikipedia:

Misophonia, literally “hatred of sound”, is a neurological disorder in which negative experiences (anger, flight, hatred, disgust) are triggered by specific sounds. The sounds could be loud or soft.

That could be a lot of things. Be more specific.

People who have misophonia are most commonly angered, and even enraged, by common ambient sounds, such as other people clipping their nails, brushing teeth, chewing crushed ice, eating, slurping, drinking, breathing, sniffing, talking, sneezing, yawning, walking, chewing gum, laughing, snoring, typing on a keyboard, whistling or coughing; saying certain consonants; or repetitive sounds. (Via)

All of that makes me lose my mind. If I am in the same room with a person and they’re slurping on food, I will get angry and yell at them. I realize that it’s wrong and they can’t help it, but any sound I hear that my brain tells me is obnoxious makes me lose it.

The odd thing is that I noticed it when I was younger. Normally, it’s an audio type thing, but it can be visual. I couldn’t watch television if there was any odd obstruction in my field of view. Basically, if there were clothes on the ground near the TV, I had to remove them from my field of vision or I’d focus on them the entire time before I got up and removed them.

It’s strange because sometimes what triggers me with some people doesn’t trigger me with others. If I’m with a girlfriend and she’s chewing, it doesn’t bother me. If I’m with a family member and they’re doing the same thing, I will want to throw a hammer at them.

This video shows the basics of what it’s like:

I think Misophonia can be a plus when it comes to music and other things. I can listen to a song and separate each layer in my head as I listen. It makes for a very enjoyable experience. That is until I take my headphones off and have to hear someone eat potato chips. That’s a nightmare. It’s like being the Sherlock Holmes of sound. You hear mistakes all the time. It could be some strange hypersensitive hearing ability that no one really gets unless you have it.

This is still something that no one really knows about. I listen to a few podcasts and one of the hosts clearly has Misophonia. There have been multiple occasions where someone was eating, drinking, or even tapping on the mic that made the host beg them to stop and even lose his temper. So, if you’re ever in a situation where the sound of a normal activity drives you insane, you might have Misophonia.

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Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post, UPROXX, BGR and by just looking up his name.