In a quiet room, the sound of someone chomping on a meal or continuously sniffing instead of blowing his or her nose can be irritating and slightly awkward. But for some people, it’s way more than that.
Dr. Barron H. Lerner took to The New York Times’ Well blog to address this relatively newly-identified affliction that he himself struggles with.
Coined by the married researchers Margaret and Pawel Jastreboff of Emory University in 2002, misophonia (“hatred of sound”) is sometimes referred to as selective sound sensitivity syndrome. Like me, those with the disorder identify a series of specific sounds that bother them. A 2013 study by Arjan Schröder and his colleagues at the University of Amsterdam identified the most common irritants as eating sounds, including lip smacking and swallowing; breathing sounds, such as nostril noises and sneezing; and hand sounds, such as typing and pen clicking.
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But is this a legitimate disorder, or do mouth-breathers and stuffy-nosed snifflers pretty much irritate everyone?
According to Lerner, it goes way beyond irritation for some people – like a woman who reported wanting to strangle her boyfriend because of his noisy chewing.
Researchers are only beginning to understand the science behind misophonia, but early data suggest a hyperconnectivity between the auditory system and the limbic system, a part of the brain responsible for generating emotions. Some studies have found associations between misophonia and other psychiatric conditions, such as obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, but many sufferers appear to have no other major emotional problems. Dr. Schröder and other researchers are developing specific diagnostic criteria.
Although it would be challenging for those dealing with misophonia to avoid the noises that trigger a strong response, just naming the disorder is a step toward sufferers being able to recognize that it’s an issue they must deal with on their own and that noisy offenders aren’t being audibly malicious.
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Using cognitive behavioral therapy, patients may learn how to distract themselves or substitute white noise or other sounds to avoid becoming angry at others. If there is an accompanying psychiatric disease, medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may help. Removing oneself from the source of the noise can work, but is not always practical. Research into better treatments is continuing.
[Photo from Flickr user Geoffrey Meyer-van Voorth]
