# Selective Sound Sensitivity/Misophonia?



## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

Anybody have this? I'm wondering if there's any relationship with this and SAD or Asperger's as there is between SAD and Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). I seem to suffer from all of them.

"People who have misophonia are most commonly annoyed, or even enraged, by the sound of other people eating, breathing, coughing, or other ordinary sounds. Oddly, they are not normally annoyed by sounds that they themselves make. Reactions to these sounds are not limited however to just loud eating noises, people with misophonia find themselves affected by all kinds of noises. Such reactions are also involntary. Often, people who have misophonia are also annoyed by other people's repetitive movements, such as leg-tapping, nail-biting and typing."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/70/6/739


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## macaw (Sep 6, 2010)

I experience some of that, although I'd rather not self-diagnose.

I used to get more angry about eating noises and leg-bouncing, but I'm getting better. Or maybe I'm not, and only think I am because I'm not around people as much anymore.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

It was an easy diagnosis for me. I feel intense rage. I have to leave the room when I hear such sounds or stay with immense anxiety/rage. I feel like annihilating anybody who makes those sounds including those closest to me. I have trouble eating with them, unless there's some white /distracting noise in the background. I've been like this since I was a teenager. The worst is to be inside a closed place like a car. My psychiatrist didn't even know about the condition because it isn't in the DSM, as of the latest edition, as far as I know.


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## anonomousguy (Jan 27, 2010)

eating sometimes annoys the hell outta me... but people talking in other languages other than english REALLY gets to me. 

Spanish, Russian... hell, even English bothers me because it seems that EVERYONE talks so goddamn LOUD and FAST it's like pipe down for 5 minutes, y'know?


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## Jayne311 (Aug 20, 2009)

I think a lot of people have this to a certain extent. I get annoyed by people biting or picking at their nails to the point of wanting to murder the person, but other noises don't bother me. I guess it just depends on how many types of things bother you and how angry you get with them.


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## HannahG (Aug 31, 2010)

Interesting. Never heard of this. I don't have it, though there is the odd time when I'm sleep deprived that I find breathing/eating noises incredibly annoying and in my head I start swearing for a good minute, stop, take a deep breath, then it goes away. Sleep deprivation does weird things to me...


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## cellophanegirl (Sep 21, 2009)

Whoa does my roommate have this?! I was eating my soup the other day, and she was like "you're slurping." I looked at her like she had 3 heads. Like, really? I'll eat my food anyway I damn well please. I thought she was just being obnoxious. I wonder if it is actually an issue. 

I feel this way sometimes, but usually only if someone is already pissing me off. Like when I was little and my little sister would try to watch tv with me. I thought she was too young to be watching what I liked to watch, so when my parents allowed her to watch with me, every little thing she did used to piss the hell out of me. But I'm pretty sure that's not what you're talking about.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

cellophanegirl said:


> I feel this way sometimes, but usually only if someone is already pissing me off. Like when I was little and my little sister would try to watch tv with me. I thought she was too young to be watching what I liked to watch, so when my parents allowed her to watch with me, every little thing she did used to piss the hell out of me. But I'm pretty sure that's not what you're talking about.


No, this is a serious disorder, that dramatically affects your life. I often could and cannot eat with my wife/parents because the noises are so irritating. 


> Sufferers tend to start noticing a particular feature of a loved one's breathing or eating habits. They become obsessed by the sound(s), and hypersensitive to them. That sensitivity can spread to other noises made by that person (or another person) or the actions with which they make the noise, or even anticipation of it.


http://www.misophonia-uk.org/


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## caflme (Jun 7, 2009)

yes, ticking, slurping, smacking, tapping, and those types of repetitive noises really send me to a new level of annoyed. Chewing ice or crunching hard candy... is the worst.


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## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

Kon said:


> It was an easy diagnosis for me. I feel intense rage. I have to leave the room when I hear such sounds or stay with immense anxiety/rage. I feel like annihilating anybody who makes those sounds including those closest to me. I have trouble eating with them, unless there's some white /distracting noise in the background. I've been like this since I was a teenager. The worst is to be inside a closed place like a car. My psychiatrist didn't even know about the condition because it isn't in the DSM, as of the latest edition, as far as I know.


Holy ****...I can't believe I'm not alone. I seriously feel like murdering anyone who coughs or clears throat loudly and continuously. Everytime someone makes either noise, I get an enormous urge to tell them to shut the **** up or give them the finger.

This started happening just months after I was diagnosed with social anxiety. My main SA symptom has been head tremor/twitch. One time at a conference my head was shaking, and the lady right behind me started coughing soon after. She would not stop until I was completely out of her sight. Since then I found more and more people clearing throat and coughing when my head shook or twitched. I've come to believe that my head tremor, when seen, makes others uncomfortable, and they in turn clear throat and cough as a sign of anxiety.

As my anxiety worsened, so did the intensity and frequency of head tremor and the sensitivity to those sounds. Eventually the frustration caused by sound sensitivity completely overshadowed that from social anxiety itself. I've become so sensitive to coughing sound that it doesn't just annoy me but startles the crap out of me. It literally feels like someone shocked me with a defibrillator. And I have to go through it everytime I hear them.

I know my 'theory' is far fetched and often not true as people cough for many reasons, but I don't think I'm being completely paranoid either. At this point it doesn't matter what I think anyway. This shocking sensation and subsequent rage come before I can do anything about it.

I'm stuck in my room all day because of this. I go outside only when I have class or absolutely have to. I'm wrecked so much physically and mentally. I don't think it can get much worse than this. But I feel a bit better now that I know this is a known medical phenomenon. Thanks a lot for posting this.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

aksylish,

You might want to try some ear plugs (when you don't have to listen) like these:

http://www.misophonia-uk.org/free-earplugs.html
http://www.howardleight.com/trypilot/index/pdf/HL-Pilot-Earplug.pdf

I tried earplugs once but they were crap. But in school, I'm not sure if they're practical. Do you have any Asperger's tendencies/characteristics or is your diagnosis just SAD?


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## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

Kon said:


> aksylish,
> 
> You might want to try some ear plugs (when you don't have to listen) like these


I tried them a long time ago. I use my earbuds to listen to music instead. Neither helps much though. I can still hear the sounds faintly, which is enough to cause anger.



> Do you have any Asperger's tendencies/characteristics or is your diagnosis just SAD?


I do have a few Asperger's symptoms, but I'm only diagnosed with SA. I should ask my psychiatrist about this.

By the way, can misophonia be acquired? I just read a few articles and posts about it, and they all seem to suggest it's congenital. It's not the case for me.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

akstylish said:


> By the way, can misophonia be acquired? I just read a few articles and posts about it, and they all seem to suggest it's congenital. It's not the case for me.


Nobody really knows. There's not much research on it. I had mine since I was a teenager and it's gotten worse. Sometimes unbearable. My SAD is minor compared to it. The problem is that my SAD (performance anxiety) intereferes with my job. My misophonia intereferes with my family life moreso and affects my job to a lesser degree. When I went to university, it did affect me, especially during exams when people were slurping pop, coffee. I would go ballistic and I couldn't concentrate. Taking benzos + narcotics helped.


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## LALoner (Dec 3, 2008)

> people eating, breathing, coughing,


Everybody hates those sounds. Especially eating. I change the channel every time one of those Carl's Jr. commercials come on with someone loudly eating a hamburger.


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## pumapunku (Oct 29, 2010)

lol sometimes a believe these "disorders/phobias" are made up by some "know it all". 

"oh, i see that that bothers that person so i'm going to call it a disorder!.... b itchy people avoidance personality disorder... bpaPD for short"


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## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

You should research a bit more before saying that. It doesn't just bother people with misophonia. It's as debilitating as severe social anxiety. Watch some YouTube vids.


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## kid a (Aug 26, 2010)

geeez thats me thats me !
i hatte the sound of people chewing, it will tick it me until i have to say something. i thought it was normal to hate that sound, my ears seem really sensitive to it or something
I also hate when people cough a certain way like the clear throat cough, i dont notice any of these things when i do them though


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## pumapunku (Oct 29, 2010)

> You should research a bit more before saying that. It doesn't just bother people with misophonia. *It's as debilitating as severe social anxiety.* Watch some YouTube vids.


you are joking right? seriously, this is being clueless. i'm not even going to explain why that is.

at any rate, i did some small research about this cus... well, i didn't have anything better to do plus my curiosity got the best of me. the results from that are just what i suspected... i don't take *misophonia*, *selective sound sensitivity "syndrome" (4S)*, or *sensory defensiveness* seriously. the only one i do believe is a real serious debilitating condition is *hyperacusis*.

these vague conditions are made up by "know it alls".

i know for a fact that i do get annoyed by sounds. if i hear a girl cry and cry and cry. fck yeah is going to get annoying. if i hear some persons next to me stomach growl over and over again is going to bother me. if i hear someone eating like a pig with the mouth open and smacking (no manners) it is going to bother me. that is normal and i don't feel like explaining it. take it or leave it.

what is out of the ordinary is when the/a noise affects us in such a way that it can make the heart skip a beat when theres nothing to fear. if i get scared cus some one spooked me fro behind and my heart skips a beat is normal. but if my heart skips a beat, say, when someone closes the door, that is not normal. the noise caused by the door triggers an involuntary reaction from past traumatic events. which means the noise had to happened when the traumatic event was taking place. this i don't consider a disorder. blah blah blah!

i know this noises do bother me but i'm not going to go ahead and label myself with what these "know it alls" say it is. NO! cus if i do that and their vague description do not all apply to me i'm going to feel like i'm "broken" when i'm not.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

pumapunku said:


> at any rate, i did some small research about this cus... these vague conditions are made up by "know it alls".
> now i'm not a damn expert and i can see this by taking a few minutes to think about this.


Unlike yourself who's not a "know it all" but was able to spend a few minutes googling and did some small research on the internet but was able to come to a reasonable conclusion.


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## pumapunku (Oct 29, 2010)

^you are just provoking, label yourself how ever you feel like it dude.


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## pumapunku (Oct 29, 2010)

> 1. If you care a lot about socializing (e.g. you want to be a social butterfly) but can't due to your anxiety, you probably lie in the social anxiety disorder or avoidant personality disorder spectrum (the latter being a more pronounced form of the former, in my opinion). Deep down inside you are a bit narcissistic and crave to be the centre of attention or at the least crave to be much more social but your insecurities/low self-esteem, etc. get in the way.
> 
> 2. If you don't care that much about socializing (e.g. hate even the thought of being a social butterfly) or get exhausted by such interactions irrespective of anxiety issues you probably lie in the asperger's/highly sensitive person spectrum. Deep down, even in the perfect world with no anxiety issues you don't want the limelight or even the need to be too social, as it is too overwhelming/powerful/stimulating and need time off to yourself.


you know best cus you have experience enough to diagnose.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

pumapunku said:


> you know best cus you have experience enough to diagnose.


But I also wrote, "Does this make sense to anyone? If it does, which of the 2 options (if they apply) do you feel best describes you."

I agree with you, I don't have the answers. Not even close. But I do have some experience. I was in medical school for 2 years. I did a psychiatric rotation in the acute schizophrenic unit as a health professional at one of the largest psychiatrist hospitals in the world (CAMH).

I have also struggled with anxiety issues my whole life. I've seen many psychiatrists and psychologists. I had free and easy access to them due to previous exposure in the field. I also finished a 4 year degree in neuroscience. I'm not trying to say that you should believe me but I hope you can, at the least, be a little more open to other people's experiences because the sound sensitivity issues, even without my anxiety, have messed up my life big time; especially since there are reports/case studies of such people in peer-reviewed journals. I hate it when other people fail to undersand how serious this is. I witnessed the same skepticism when we were learning about SAD in both medical and pharmacy school. A lot of people in my class thought it was a "pseudo" mental disorder.


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## pumapunku (Oct 29, 2010)

^what is it exactly that bothers you about these noises?

do you feel physical pain or are they just irritating?

and why do you get enraged when you hear them?

do you get enraged about other things as well?

do they bother you because they are repetitive or they remind you of something else?

allow me to understand... you don't have to answer though.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

pumapunku said:


> ^what is it exactly that bothers you about these noises?
> 
> do you feel physical pain or are they just irritating?
> 
> ...


Thanks for listening pumapunku. Basically, it's not fear or anxiety. It's severe pain, excruciating pain. It comes and goes over and over in my head until it causes rage in me. Most times, I have to leave the room or I suffer with excruciating pain. It's like a very intense emotional reactions to certain sounds, smells, touches, movements that hurts my brain as I can't tune it out. In fact, my mind pays more attention to it the harder I try to dismiss it. Sometimes it actually helps if I tell the person to do it louder or more purposely. It's as if my knowledge that the person is doing it on purpose to piss me off or as a joke bothers me less than if the person was doing and not realizing it. The latter bothers me a lot more. It's really weird.

Many times I have to leave the room or I get in major fights with the people very close to me and people that I like. I can't explain it. Also it tends to generalize so after I know that this person's sounds bother me, I start to almost want to avoid that person in certain situations, because I know I have to face those sounds/repetitive movements. It's also more likely to happen when I'm tired/stressed out and in a quiet place (like in a car or in a quiet house). Less likely outdoors because of more background noise/activities.


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## pumapunku (Oct 29, 2010)

^i see... but i don't quite understand... 

was there a time when this didn't bother you?

if yes, how old do you think was when you first noticed this?

are any of your parents verbally or physically abusive?

is there a reason why you don't like someone in the table other than just their noises?

BTW, thanks for explaining.... again, you don't have to answer.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

pumapunku said:


> ^i see... but i don't quite understand...
> 
> was there a time when this didn't bother you?
> 
> ...


I've had it as far back as I can remember, since I was a little kid. It's actually gotten a bit worse. I rarely ate with my family. I also had trouble being around with a few of my friends. They never realized how much it bothered me since many people are affected somewhat by these sounds, but I go crazy! My dad never hit me and was/is a pretty good guy but like anybody else I do want to drop-kick him at times. My mom hit me but that was the norm in my generation. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with them. I started to think it might be symptoms of mild autism/Asperger's or high sensitivity issues (that afflict HSPs). The reason, I thought/think it might be related to Asperger's or HSP is both these conditions have major sensitivity issues (both sensory and emotional).

My psychiatrist read the literature as I downloaded and printed it for him. He said it sounded somewhat like an OCD-type behavior. I'm not convinced. I think it's primary sound/olfactory related and then generalizes to other senses (visual).


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## pumapunku (Oct 29, 2010)

i think i'm understanding it a little...

are you close with any of your parents?

why do you feel you want to drop-kick your dad? 

did he do anything to hurt you?

why do you feel that your mom hitting you was the norm? 

did you feel like you did something wrong enough to justify your mom hitting you?

if yes, what was it that you believe provoked your mom to hit you?

you can ignore me if you feel like it, i'm a curious person by nature... also, i don't know anything about aspergers.


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## xtina (Jan 3, 2010)

MY DAD HAS THIS SEVERELY. i think i have it too, but a very mild case, as well as a few other members of my family. my dad is the worst, though. when he was little, like 4 - 6 years old, he told my grandma "STOP BREATHING!!" he also poured chili pepper down my uncle's throat when he was sleeping because he was snoring - they shared a room growing up. he was always highly irritated at meal times (and still is). my aunt and uncle both went through a phase where didn't like eating around people because my dad gets so enraged at sounds of chewing and swallowing, scraping and clinking of utensils, etc. for the first 10 years of my life when i lived with my parents, he BLEW UP at any slight noise (especially eating), yet he is the NOISIEST of all! living with him was like walking on eggshells, especially when he had been drinking. he also would punish me about food sometimes - i would get whipped if i didn't finish my entire meal, and sometimes he wouldn't let me have dinner if i was "bad". i buried all of those emotions for years, and i guess the start of my social anxiety was when they finally surfaced. i get very, very anxious eating with people because in my head i'm telling myself to do everything as quietly as possible. i also have certain patterns in which i eat most types of food, and i know it's borderline OCD and it makes me paranoid when i do it around people. i'm sure my father's own irritability is part of, if not all, of the cause of this. there are many other things that grate on his nerves, but i think eating noises are the worst for him.
sorry this is so long...just thought i'd contribute my experience.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

pumapunku said:


> i think i'm understanding it a little...
> 
> >are you close with any of your parents?
> Yes.
> ...


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## pumapunku (Oct 29, 2010)

aight man, i think i sort of see what's going on here.... 

i still don't see this as a disorder in it of itself. it sounds to me that is the same thing as if someone developed sweaty palms, cold hands, bushing, frustration, not being able to look someone in the eyes, scared of elevators, etc... i don't think they are all disorders by themselves, i believe they are all learned behaviors. 

if i was to go around and label every by-product of my SA it would be a never ending quest. 

one of the things i hate a lot is when people look at me or follow me. and this really gets to me cus i get really frustrated. people who are needy and stick to me like glue trigger this in me. they just want to be all over me due to some admiration they see in me. i have a clue where this comes from though.

another thing that is debilitating is that i blush. i can keep this under control but when i get it, it goes full throttle. 

another is that when i make a mistake i torture myself mentally that i get mental blockage and develop a headache. i have to do some massive mental distraction so my mind will stop from going in a loop.

wait, there's more.... i also don't like certain noises. if i hear a door close, my heart skips a beat, literally... it does this involuntary. i also have a clue what this is... this is very irritating to me and debilitating.... 

i also avoid people religiously, not in fear of rejection or anything like that... i just don't find that we have anything in common. i sort of look like a bad boy and i attract females or guys who like that, but i'm more of a nerdy (not complete) but i don't get a long with nerds... if i say i can relate more to the sort of bad boys but i'm soft... 

so, i believe these situations are not all disorders to me... i don't know what to call them but you could think of them as being as pieces of metals being attracted by a magnet. the magnet is the root of all of these situations, so the root is the only disorder in my eyes. once i take the magnet away, the pieces of metals should just drop off.

so i cannot fix the bushing and expect to fix everything else. 

that's my opinion anyway... thanks for the input. 

i'm not trying to convince you dude, you label yourself how ever you feel like it.


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## RosieKay (Nov 9, 2010)

I get really really annoyed when people eat, breath and cough around me and do repetitive noise etc. I always get so furious with my family, but i know they can't help it but i still ask them to do things quieter or not cough. It doesn't happen as much at school in class but sometimes when im hanging out with friends at home, at cafe etc. It really doesn't help me that my mother has a habit cough and my dad and brother are possibly the loudest eaters in the world. My 3rd oldest brother is also annoyed by all these things like me. Along with these i get very angry and frustrated when i can see small movements out the corner of my eye, like someone tapping their pen or swinging their legs etc. Is there any help for it? i know it's not anyone else's fault, they're just being alive but i still get really mad and feel bad after i've calmed down.


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## styler5 (Oct 7, 2006)

pumapunku said:


> i still don't see this as a disorder in it of itself. it sounds to me that is the same thing as if someone developed sweaty palms, cold hands, bushing, frustration, not being able to look someone in the eyes, scared of elevators, etc... i don't think they are all disorders by themselves, i believe they are all learned behaviors.
> 
> if i was to go around and label every by-product of my SA it would be a never ending quest.


First, misophonia is not a symptom of SA. You can have it without having SA, although they don't seem completely unrelated.

Being annoyed by sounds is a common SA symptom, but misophonia is way, way worse. The difference is similar to that between stage freight and a full-blown panic attack. You are so enraged by certain sounds you want to hurt or kill anyone who makes them, even those you love most. I haven't come across a complaint of such extreme sound sensitivity on this forum except this thread.

Good vid:


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

akstylish said:


> First, misophonia is not a symptom of SA. You can have it without having SA, although they don't seem completely unrelated.


My guess also is that this has very little to do with SAD. Relationship to autism or OCD, maybe? By the way, narcotics, particularly oxycodone did help with the misophonia, from what I vaguely recall.


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## evansw (Mar 12, 2012)

*Thank You For Giving My Phobia a Name ("MISOPHONIA")*

_*I have an INTENSE AND POWERFUL fear of hearing my father cough and choke. He is a lifelong smoker and for as long as I can remember (he is 74 and I'm 52) he's been coughing and choking intensely (emphasema), losing his breath, turning bee*__*t red, to the point where I literally need to run from the room covering my ears, my heart pounds in my chest, my breathing becomes labored, and my legs turn to jelly*_. *It's even worse when he eats, so sitting at the family dinner table (at holidays, etc.) becomes immensely nerve-racking for me. The problem now is that he has recently been hospitalized due to stroke, heart attack and pnemonia (from smoking) and I am TERRIFIED to visit him without another family member present, which is often impossible. I did visit him a few days ago when my brother and his family were present, but I was on the verge of a full-fledged anxiety attack the entire time I was in his hospital room, and had to leave once or twice immediately and go into the corridor (covering my ears) because he began to cough. I texted my sister yesterday asking if she'd car-pool with me "tomorrow" to visit dad because I didn't want to go alone, and she said no because of one reason or another. I 'm afraid to tell my brothers and (especially) my sister that I found a NAME for this fear ("Misophonia") because they probably won't believe this phobia exists and will most likely say ,"You're not visiting Dad because you're afraid to hear him cough and choke??? Give me a break!" It's well known by everyone in my family that I have severe anxiety when my father coughs and chokes. It's gotten so bad over the years that even in a social situation, I have to immediately leave ANY room where coughing and choking is present from RANDOM people. I'm embarrassed and ashamed that I cannot visit my Dad while he's recovering in the hospital. What can I do? *


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## lespaulchick56 (Jun 4, 2012)

*Mesophonia*

I've been dealing with mesophonia for many years now but I never knew what it was. I was actually on tumblr and I saw a "did you know" post about it and googled it, and I fit the description perfectly. I am still in school at the moment and it's becoming increasingly difficult to sit in class hearing certain noises, because I can't leave otherwise I miss class, and they no longer allow us to listen to music while we work independantly. This is getting more and more frustrating as the days go on. I'm picturing doing violent things to my classmates that make the noises, and even the teacher who always wears high heels which click as she walks and it drives me crazy.

List of noises that enrage me:
-Popping or chewing gum
-Loud chewing "smacking lips"
-Snorting
-High heels clicking on hard floors
-People singing, humming, or whistling
-Loud music from headphones
-People "sucking their teeth"
-Shuffling feet

When I hear these noises I can't help but get angry, and I always end up coming off as an anti social ***** because I ask them to stop. What they don't understand is, I can't help it and I can't just ignore it! And it's not my fault. It's severly distracting and even now I'm sitting in class and I can barely type this because of the noises around me. It gets so bad I often wanna cry from the anxiety. I guess what I want to know is there anyone else dealing with this, and do you have any suggestions as to what I can do. Like I said I used to listen to music to drown it out and I can't do that anymore, and I don't think they'll let me use earplugs in class. Please Help!!!!


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

lespaulchick56 said:


> This is getting more and more frustrating as the days go on. I'm picturing doing violent things to my classmates that make the noises, and even the teacher who always wears high heels which click as she walks and it drives me crazy.
> 
> List of noises that enrage me:
> -Popping or chewing gum
> ...


Can definitely relate to all those plus sipping/gulping sounds when people drink fluids and people clearing their throats or sneezing. I also hate people talking/laughing on the phone. It's become so bad that I generally cannot tolerate being around people for very long. I've also noticed that the effects are worse with people that I'm closer to or know better. And some people seem naturally "louder" and less tolerable than others. This disorder forces you not to want to be around other people for too long. Ditto on the violent thoughts. I don't understand why it is almost always human sounds. Animal sounds don't usually bother me.


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## meepie (Jun 20, 2010)

I have tinnitus for sure so I may be more prone to this. My ears are always ringing and I do get annoyed easily when I hear my family talking a lot. I prefer everything to be in silence and when I am disturbed I feel a little annoyed.


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## GuyMontag (Dec 12, 2010)

I have sensitive hearing. Sometimes at night noises can keep my attention. My father is a noisy eater and I have to leave the room when he eats because I can't stand his slurping.


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## benjamind2012 (Jun 17, 2012)

I can't stand certain noises. These are the ones that can trigger quite an unpleasant stress attack.

* Toddlers screaming/loud crying
* Screeching noises, brakes, nails on a chalkboard
* Whining noises, mechanical noises, anything that sounds like a human distress sound
* Certain bird sounds, especially repetitive squawks.

I use ear plugs, and MP3 stereo players, and still doesn't stop the stress attack. I think this one is psychological - especially the toddler crying/any sound that sounds like human distress.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

Does anybody with misophonia also feel anger/rage at some people talking, particularly on the phone or if it's "small-talk"? Even laughing bothers me some time.


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## Amorphousanomaly (Jun 20, 2012)

This kind of thing is a source of much suffering for me. Even if I like someone and want to spend time with them I'm deterred by their obnoxious loud breathing and eating, it's been a component in the destruction of a few relationships. Now I mostly sit in my room with iso headphones on. :[


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## hannathenord (Dec 13, 2012)

I can't stand the sound of applause. There is too much variation of high pitched and low pitched sounds and the amount of emotion is overwhelming to me.


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## ACCV93 (Sep 6, 2012)

no with me its SA + BDD all the way


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## bben (Oct 24, 2009)

Kon said:


> Does anybody with misophonia also feel anger/rage at some people talking, particularly on the phone or if it's "small-talk"? Even laughing bothers me some time.


yes this is common with miso. i get that. Do you have any schizo tendencies just curious...


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

bben said:


> yes this is common with miso. i get that. Do you have any schizo tendencies just curious...


I don't think so, but I might have some "autistic-like" tendencies. I suspect that there may be some connection between introversion and/or asperger's and misophonia and hoped to get more votes in this thread:

*Misophonia and Asperger's/Introversion *
http://www.socialanxietysupport.com/forum/f33/misophonia-and-aspergers-introversion-212203/


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## rawvibes (Jun 23, 2013)

*Hearing loss in left ear*

:| I'd move every 6 months with 2-3 months as hell. I was terrorized because they blamed me for calling the police on 2 members coming home late after a movie. Make a long story short they played allot of head games with me. I never did recover from that. Then my hearing loss got worse in the left ear. So what seems to be people that might be talking about me is actually unidentified sounds my hearing is trying to make out. I already have high anxiety from 10 eye surgeries, see I was a case study for PRK which became lasik. Add that with this incident. yup. I've had people talk crap at me at theatres, show, buses, and etc. I now after about 10 years have lost the tolerance against this stuff and the misophonia diagn last year. A few neighbors now in Rosemead,ca have taken a liking to take smack here too. And so I ambient noise sometimes sound like people talking crap but last week I walked by a couple and the male said by uckr. sorry mod. I use to setup nightclub sound and worked at the planet studio.  you know. so my training is a curse. currently waiting for hearing eval and cognitive testing at ucla. I know but to cover all basis. I don't like lookin back at stuff that comes behind and bites yah. 
I hope this can help someone. I deal with it day by day


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## joseph grancio (Sep 3, 2013)

Kon said:


> Anybody have this? I'm wondering if there's any relationship with this and SAD or Asperger's as there is between SAD and Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). I seem to suffer from all of them.
> 
> "People who have misophonia are most commonly annoyed, or even enraged, by the sound of other people eating, breathing, coughing, or other ordinary sounds. Oddly, they are not normally annoyed by sounds that they themselves make. Reactions to these sounds are not limited however to just loud eating noises, people with misophonia find themselves affected by all kinds of noises. Such reactions are also involntary. Often, people who have misophonia are also annoyed by other people's repetitive movements, such as leg-tapping, nail-biting and typing."
> 
> ...


Hello,

Could anybody tell me if misophonia sufferers are also bothered by sounds not made by people such as refrigerators, crickets, birds, machinery and the like?


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## joseph grancio (Sep 3, 2013)

Hello,

Could anybody tell me if misophonia sufferers are also bothered by sounds not made by people such as refrigerators, crickets, birds, machinery and the like?
joseph grancio is online now Report Post


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## Neurology (Jul 10, 2013)

People with misophonia have a large menu of auditory triggers that includes human sounds, animal sounds, machinery, and repetitive noises, in addition to visual triggers (like legs swinging or hair twirling) and olfactory (smell) triggers.

Radio Health Journal just released a radio podcast on misophonia (Sept. 2013) and you can access the mp3 podcast for free at itunes.

Amazon sells the book Sound-Rage. A Primer of the Neurobiology and Psychology of a little Known Anger Disorder and the book discusses in length all about triggers.

I hope this helps.


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## corbeaublanc (Jan 29, 2013)

Nail tapping, barking dogs and crying are sounds that really make me want to cry or just explode inside. so yes-very real symptoms for me;but if I don't see a therapist people would just assume I'm being 'fake'...which I am not :/ I'll need to write a concise list of my problems. It's a little depressing...I know that a hypochondriac is waaay over the edge; but that's not me. Yeah-I do have overlapping symptoms such as this; but I'm not making it up either. I remember being 12, listening to a child cry and I turned to my mother and said bluntly, "I wish that child would shut up-seriously-it's annoying me." Needless to say she proceeded to give me a shocked look.


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

The largest study done to date on misophonia that also looked at the mental history of misophonia sufferers:



> The symptom pattern of misophonia shares a number of features with other DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10 diagnoses: specific phobia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), intermittent explosive disorder, emotionally unstable personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, OCPD, and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). It also shares similarities with sensory processing disorders (SPD) and phonophobia. Even though misophonia resembles these disorders, none of the diagnostic categories fit the whole symptom pattern of misophonia...



Having said that, the authors did note, however, that 52.4% of people with misophonia even met criteria for OCPD (Obsessive compulsive personality disorder). Another interesting comment that definitely applies to myself:



> Five patients (11.9%) reported a misophonia-like reaction when confronted with certain repetitive visual movements made by another person such as leg rocking (in analogy to misophonia this can be named _misokinesia_, meaning hatred of movement).



*Misophonia: Diagnostic Criteria for a New Psychiatric Disorder*
http://www.plosone.org/article/fetc....1371/journal.pone.0054706&representation=PDF​


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## Kon (Oct 21, 2010)

I thought this was a very interesting insight by these authors suggesting that misophonia might be a type of synesthesia:



> To date, no research has examined the neurological origin of misophonia, and preliminary investigations suggest it is not due to any primary neurological or psychological disorder or trauma. Nevertheless, misophonia displays similarities to a genetic condition known as synesthesia. In synesthesia, as in misophonia, particular sensory stimuli evoke particular and consistent, additional sensations and associations. Well-known forms of synesthesia include letters evoking a par- ticular color, or sounds/music evoking colorsbut there are in fact many different subtypes of synesthesia, with a variety of "inducers" (e.g., music, taste, words, sequences) evoking certain "concurrents" (e.g., color, shapes, taste). While most synesthe- sia research has examined the perceptual sensations related to synesthesia, the condition seems to have an affective component as well.





> First, synesthetic congruency (e.g., when a grapheme- color synesthete sees a letter in the "correct" color) is related to positive affect. Furthermore, both inducers and concurrents can be of emotional rather than perceptual nature. Interestingly, the latter indicates that for certain subtypes of synesthesia, similar to misophonia, inducers evoke a particular feeling or emotion rather than a pure perceptual sensation. This has been studied in tactile-emotion synesthesia (e.g., feeling sandpaper evokes a feeling of jealousy; Synesthetic associations, like misophonic experiences, are automatic (in the sense that they do not take effort or conscious deliberation), are consistent within an individual and persist throughout life, and seem to run in families. Given these similarities, neu- roimaging findings in synesthetes may provide us with hypotheses on the neural basis of misophonia. First, associated sensations in synesthesia are found to be associated with co-activation in relevant (associated) brain areas. Furthermore, previous studies support a direct linking of relevant sensory regions in synesthesia mediated by an actual increase of anatomical connectivity. Similarly, altered connections from a lesioned thalamus to the cerebral cortex led to a type of acquired synesthesia in which auditory stimuli produced tactile percepts. Differing in the level of speci- ficity and complexity of evoked responses observed in synesthetes, individuals with misophonia display basic and non-elaborated responses to triggering stimuli, varying largely in the intensity of the response. Nevertheless, the underlying neurological cause of this condition may be similar to that of synesthesia in terms of enhanced connectivity between relevant brain regions. In short, a pathological distortion of connections between the auditory cor- tex and limbic structures could cause a form of sound-emotion synesthesia.


*Misophonia: physiological investigations and case descriptions* 
http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00296/abstract#sthash.NSMrtrne.dpuf


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## Lapatik (Mar 29, 2018)

pumapunku said:


> you are joking right? seriously, this is being clueless. i'm not even going to explain why that is.
> 
> at any rate, i did some small research about this cus... well, i didn't have anything better to do plus my curiosity got the best of me. the results from that are just what i suspected... i don't take *misophonia*, *selective sound sensitivity "syndrome" (4S)*, or *sensory defensiveness* seriously. the only one i do believe is a real serious debilitating condition is *hyperacusis*.
> 
> ...


I created an account just to answer that ignorant post. I have misophonia AND social anxiety, both go together in that case, and I would keep my social anxiety anytime over my misophonia. Misophonia has completely ruined my life to the point where I tried to kill myself many times. I see my triggers for half a second and I have recurring thoughts for the whole week during which I will only think about it, crying many times over and thinking about ending it all. I have to plan every trip I make so I'm sure I won't encounter any trigger. My windows are all covered and I have white noise machines running full volume. It led to serious bouts of depression and parasthesia. It is more than simply annoyance, it is debilitating. That is the difference between people being annoyed by sounds and people who really suffer from misophonia. So yeah, if you don't know what you're talking about, just shut the hell up already and do not diagnose other people. F*** you too.


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