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Study explains why chewing noises make you angry
A study found that people with a condition called misophonia, which causes them to hate sounds like chewing, also have different brain activity than others.
GeoBeats
Shortly after her parents’ divorce, at the age of 13, every time Lindsey Baatz heard someone chewing gum or a speaker playing music with heavy bass, she seethed with rage, of disgust and panic. Sixteen years later, she still can’t stand these noises.
“My stomach drops, I feel a rush of adrenaline, my heart starts racing and I panic,” said Baatz, 29, of Seattle, Washington.
In college, she “finally snapped” while sitting near a serial gum killer while studying at a Starbucks. That moment prompted Baatz to scour the internet for information that might explain why certain sounds make him want to explode.
“I discovered that there was a word for it,” Baatz said, “and that there are other people like me, that I’m not the only one who feels this way.”
She suffers from misophonia – and now she devotes much of her free time to educating others about it through it. TikTok account and providing safe spaces for people like her to share their struggles.
What is misophonia?
Misophonia is a complex disorder that results in decreased tolerance to specific sounds or stimuli associated with those sounds. It was first named and described in the early 2000sYet a survey earlier this year found that only 11% of people knew it.
Noises such as chewing, sucking, sniffing, and heavy breathing are common triggers, as well as clicking, tapping, and other repetitive noises from objects like clocks and fans.
Reactions to triggers are often intense; they range from feeling trapped and panicked to wanting to vomit in disgust. A woman, for example, gags every time she hears styrofoam scratch against himself.
Misophonia can be so debilitating to a person’s daily life that they is considered a handicap under the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to soQuiet, a nonprofit organization that advocates and supports people with the disorder.
Trigger sounds are more than just an annoyance or pet peeve, and the more people dismiss them as such, the more isolated people with the disorder feel.
“People without misophonia have difficulty understanding it because they also don’t like certain sounds, in the same way that people don’t understand ADHD because they relate to have difficulty concentrating,” said Jeanne Gregory, a clinical psychologist at the University of Oxford who studies this disorder. “It’s not that people with misophonia don’t like the sound, it’s that their body reacts as if the sound is dangerous or harmful.”
Gregory has suffered from misophonia since he was 8 years old. Eating, heavy breathing, and anything repetitive like typing, the ticking of the clock and the clicking of pens triggers it. “And the pigeons,” Gregory added. “That repetitive sound they make makes me feel like they’re trying to torment me.”
The context of a sound, rather than its acoustic properties, also matters.
A 2022 study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology found that people with misophonia experienced a more negative reaction to sounds when they watched a video of the sound in action (a person chewing chips) compared to an unrelated video (a person tearing a paper) with sound. same sound.
A separate study published the same year had similar results and showed that there was no difference between people with and without misophonia in their ability to detect trigger sounds.
“People with misophonia often say they hear things that others don’t (myself included), so it’s possible that it’s because they are more attuned to sounds,” said Gregory, author of the book “Sounds like misophonia” published November 14. “Or that people without misophonia ignore sounds so quickly that they don’t even realize the fact that they heard them.”
Is misophonia common?
It’s not clear how widespread misophonia is.
A recent survey of 772 people in the UK found that 1 in 5 people suffer from misophonia, and that the disorder was less serious in older people. More research is needed to determine whether the disorder itself is less severe in older age or whether older adults have more control over their exposure to trigger sounds and are therefore better able to cope.
A 2014 survey of 483 undergraduate students found that almost 20% had “clinically significant symptoms of misophonia.”
What causes misophonia?
Researchers don’t yet know why some people develop misophonia or whether there is a genetic component to the disorder, which can appear at any age.
Some people randomly become intolerant to certain sounds, while others are triggered by a traumatic or upsetting event, Gregory said.
Studies have shown that the parts of the brain responsible for long-term memories, fear, emotional awareness and auditory processing are more active when people with misophonia listen to trigger sounds compared to those without it.
Research also shows that people with autism or ADHD may be more likely to develop misophonia, but this does not mean that people with misophonia are more likely to suffer from these conditions.
Does misophonia ever go away?
There is no cure for misophonia, but certain treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy and other coping mechanisms can make it easier to manage, Gregory said.
That said, some people reach points in their lives where they no longer suffer from the disorder, she said, either because they are no longer in the circumstances that exposed them to their triggers or because other unclear reasons.
Misophonia Can Affect Relationships, Careers, and Academics
“I’ve really built my life around misophonia — my career, where I live, who I spend time with,” said Baatz, who was officially diagnosed in 2021 after taking a hearing test with her audiologist. This means she’s had to make sacrifices along the way, like missing car trips with friends to avoid being “trapped” by her trigger sounds. “It’s the little things in life that you try to show yourself to and sometimes you can’t,” she said.
Not to mention that it bothers Baatz the most when his parents or brother make him trigger noises. (Many people with misophonia report worse reactions when triggering sounds made by those closest to them.)
On the positive side, Baatz, a professional photographer working primarily from home, said she was able to make her dream career a reality thanks to these challenges. “I don’t know if I would have been as determined and driven to pursue photography as a career if I didn’t have misophonia,” Baatz said.
However, more often than not, misophonia can affect academic performance, especially children’s, and people’s social lives, experts say.
Jasmine Edwards, 29, who can’t stand mouth noises like chewing, said she sometimes has to excuse herself from the table, ask Uber drivers to play music to mask certain sounds from other passengers or asking people in restaurants to stop slurping their noodles, for example. , otherwise she will panic.
“I start to withdraw into myself, trying to calm down mentally. If the sound continues, I have to leave or call them, which is rude to call out people’s table manners,” said Edwards, an artist living in Iowa. “It’s uncomfortable and some people get offended, but it’s just about boundaries and finding the right people who understand and respect them.”
How to calm misophonia?
The first step is recognizing that “you’re not alone and you’re not crazy,” Gregory said: “Many people have worse misophonia because they or others think something doesn’t go to them, but once you understand that it’s real, it can help lessen the intensity of your reactions.
It can be difficult to get a diagnosis of misophonia because there are no official diagnostic criteria, but there are experts in several fields, such as audiology, neurology, and psychology, who are familiar with it and can help. help.
(Misophonia is not included in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) because there is still much debate about whether it is a mental, neurological, or other disorder.)
Techniques that help you create new associations with your trigger sounds (like listening to recordings of your trigger at different volumes and speeds, or doing something completely unrelated) can also help reduce the intensity of your reactions, say the experts.
When you find coping strategies that work, make sure they allow you to participate in life, rather than forcing you to withdraw from it, Gregory said. This might look like wearing earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones in environments with your trigger sounds. But be wary of relying on these products, Gregory said, because they can make you more sensitive to noises when you’re not wearing them.
Otherwise, don’t be afraid to talk about misophonia. Awareness is essential.
“There is a lack of understanding about what misophonia is, who it affects and how prevalent it is,” said Lauren Harte-Hargrove, executive director of the Misophonia Research Fund, which has awarded more than $10 million to researchers on misophonia over five years: “There is a need to raise awareness of this disorder and its debilitating nature so that we can direct funding towards research.”