Individuals with misophonia often report being bothered by oral sounds – the noise someone makes when eating or even breathing. Other adverse sounds include finger tapping on the keyboard or the rattle of windshield wipers. Likewise, people with misophonia say they often also react to visual stimuli that accompany sounds. Researchers believe that people with misophonia may have problems with the way their brains filter out sounds and that one cause of “misophonic sounds” could be their repetitive pattern. That repetition then triggers other auditory processing problems. The disorder appears to range from mild to severe; reactions can range from anger to annoyance, panic and the need to escape. If you have a mild reaction, you can try:

• Anxiety
• Unease
• Want to escape
• Disgust

If the response is more severe, the sound in question can cause:

• Anger
• Hate
• Panic
• Fear
• Emotional suffering

Illness can mess with social life. In fact, people with misophonia can avoid restaurants or even eat separately from their spouse, family or friends. Or worse, they can “attack” the person making the sound (physical or verbal), cry or run away.

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