If the sound of someone cracking their knuckles or chewing makes you want to slap them into silence, listen up. A group of English scientists at Newcastle University have discovered that many people suffer from an actual medical disorder that causes extreme sensitivity and irritation to certain sounds.
Misophonia was first named as a mental condition in 2001, but recent studies have shown that sufferers experience abnormalities in the brain's frontal lobe when "triggering" sounds are heard. When triggered, neurons in the anterior insular cortex -- the area of the brain that connects our senses and our emotions -- and the surrounding areas go into overdrive, increasing mental activity.
In the Newcastle studies, scientists took CT scans of volunteers with and without any experiences with misophonia. While in the scan, the subjects listened to a series of noises, categorized into neutral, unpleasant and triggering sounds. Neutral noises included sounds such as white noise or rain, while unpleasant sounds were noises which tend to bother sufferer's of misophonia no more than the average person. To compare, subjects then listened to common triggering sounds such as chewing, breathing and snapping gum.
Until this study was published, psychologists generally looked at misophonia as a symptom or side effect of a generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Scientists, on the other hand, attributed this condition to a person's feeling of disgust toward certain sounds or the actions associated with them. What the study showed, however, is that the emotional response from triggering noises is more closely related to anger than disgust.
Scans in the Newcastle studies show that misophonia sufferers also experience physiological symptoms similar to that of anxiety, including sweating, dilated pupils and an increased heart rate.
Misophonia is not simply the dislike of certain sounds. Everyone has noises they don't enjoy and even can't stand. But sufferers of this disorder experience an automatic mental (and even physical) reaction that can range from anger to panic. If you experience the symptoms of misophonia, I hope you can take comfort in knowing that this is a real medical condition and not just a product of disgust or annoyance.
Since this new study was published, many doctors and psychologists are taking this disorder a lot more seriously, so now there are even more resources for those who may need it.
