People With Misophonia: When You Hate Certain Sounds

Here is a story so that it is easier to understand people with misophonia and all that it entails:

What you just read is a true story from a person with misophonia. But what is misophony? Misophony is defined as great sensitivity (hypersensitivity) to a certain type of sound or sounds.

You have a low tolerance for sound, in addition to hyperacusis and phonophobia. People with misophonia tend to have a physical reaction to certain sound stimuli. The word “misophony” was coined by doctors Pawel Jastreboff and Margaret Jastreboff in 2000. The term comes from the Greek “misos”, which means aversion, and “phoneme”, which means sound. Thus, you can also define misophony as “selective sensitivity to sound”.

But exactly what is misophony?

As we have mentioned , misophony consists in a reduction of a person’s tolerance for certain sounds. People with this condition simply cannot tolerate certain sounds. What for others would just be background noise, for others will be very unpleasant sounds.

Sounds like chewing, sounds from various kitchen utensils, or the drumming of fingers on a desk, are unbearable for people with misophonia. Some of the sounds that provoke this discomfort have a relatively low frequency of around 40 or 50 decibels.

This hostility to sounds gets worse if those who make them are close to the person with misophonia. Meredith Rosol, an elementary school teacher from Baltimore, was diagnosed with misophonia. She says she can no longer eat with her parents. She can only share a meal with them if she wears earplugs.

One problem these people face is how difficult it is to diagnose misophonia. Therefore, it is also difficult to treat it properly. It is also not so long since it was not even classified as a disease.

Is Misophonia a Mental Illness?

Some people argue that misophonia is not a mental disorder, that it is not a phobia. It would then be treated as a neurological condition. The neurological disorder is probably located in certain structures in the central nervous system.

Where exactly this instinctive reaction comes from is still unknown. It may have something to do with damage to the middle prefrontal cortex, similar to what happens in another medical condition called tinnitus. Tinnitus is an imaginary ringing or other type of imaginary noise in the ear, which often comes from hair cell damage in the cochlea in the inner ear.

Symptoms of misophonia

People with misophonia feel discomfort, anger, panic, fear… They may even imagine attacking the person making the sounds. The sounds can be as mundane and normal as those that come from eating, drinking, sipping, breathing, coughing, etc.

These people also feel discomfort from other repetitive sounds, such as chewing a chewing gum, blowing gum bubbles, breaking their fingers, etc. They manifest behaviors of anxiety and avoidance when they hear these sounds. In severe cases, the person suffering from misophonia will show aggressive behavior towards objects, people or animals involved.

People with misophonia sometimes develop an authentic obsession with these sounds. Then the hypersensitivity increases, and an intolerance to these sound-producing people or situations can result.

Mental problems due to misophonia

People with misophonia can develop severe mental health problems. They can become aggressive or make the decision to avoid problematic situations. This way they can isolate themselves and feel a deep sense of loneliness.

Due to the lack of available resources to treat their illness, social inclusion is not easy. Thus, people with misophonia often resort to earplugs or headphones. But they fail to solve the underlying problem.

How common is this condition?

The exact occurrence of misophonia is unknown. People with misophonia suggest that it is more normal than what is officially recognized. Hearing problems are more common than you might think. Many times there is treatment for it, while other times it is much more difficult to treat. Especially when the problem is hypersensitivity to certain sounds because it involves a mixture of physical and mental factors.

What is the treatment for people with misophonia?

There is no known cure for misophonia. Some people with misophonia have found that cognitive behavioral therapy can be helpful, as well as retraining therapy for tinnitus. For others, these techniques have not been as effective. Many doctors still do not know about this disorder, so in many cases they will not be able to diagnose it.

There are certain psychological and hypnotic treatments that have also been effective in some patients. But for most people, there will still be no definitive cure for this condition. Until then, while we wait for appropriate treatment, patients may have to live in a state of anxiety and isolation.