Does the smacking or slurping of people’s lips when they are chewing get on your nerves? Perhaps you hate going to the movies because you just can’t stand the loud-chewers and popcorn crunchers around you.
If you get immeasurably furious when you hear people loudly chewing, drinking, gulping, crunching, slurping, nail-biting, swallowing, sniffling, clicking, breathing, whistling, wheezing, finger tapping etc. then you might be an actual genius…
… And you suffer from a condition that is called misophonia, or a hatred of sound. People with misophonia are extremely sensitive to sounds and certain sounds, like loud chewing, can really drive them into and extreme bursts of disgust and rage.
This condition is not just a mild aversion to certain sounds. It is a serious condition which causes very strong reactions in the sufferer. It is impossible for them to focus on anything else at the moment because the annoying sounds are unbearable.
One study conducted at the University of Amsterdam by Arjan Schroder found that the most common triggers of irritation when it comes to eating sounds are swallowing and smacking, hand sounds – pen clicking and typing, and breathing sounds – sneezing and nostril noises.
Many psychologists strongly believe that a person’s inability to block out insignificant sensory information can be strongly connected to creativity and high intelligence.
Namely, Anton Chekov, Marcel Proust, and Charles Darwin are all geniuses that are reported to have suffered from misophonia.
But, is there a cure for this annoying condition?
It is not that easy for people with misophonia to ask for help. People often dismiss them saying that they are too sensitive and that they need to ‘grow up and get over it.” Moreover, there is not a magic pill that can cure this condition.
Perhaps your only way to help yourself is to remove yourself from the situation whenever you can, and if the irritation comes from your workplace, you could gently try to explain your condition to your boss and ask them if you can move to another office.
Some people choose hypnotherapy to deal with their condition and it has proven effective for them, so you could try that.
Do you suffer from this condition? What is your way of dealing with its symptoms without having to wipe out everyone else on the planet?
