Misophonia: Hatred Of Some Sounds
To learn about misophonia, let’s read this story: “I’ve been like this all my life, it’s horrible. Using any means of transport totally freaks me out. If I don’t wear earplugs or music with headphones, I get very nervous and short-tempered. Hearing the computer keyboard, someone chewing gum, biting a fork while eating, sipping soup… an infinity of things. I just wish I could be quiet one day and not have to be alone or with my headphones, not to have to make fun of or glare at people who do … I can’t have a steady partner, it’s normal to end up hating someone like me “.
What we have just read is the testimony of a person suffering from misophonia. But what is misophonia then? Basically, it is defined as a great sensitivity (hypersensitivity) to certain sounds .
It is one of the disorders that imply a reduced tolerance to sound, together with hyperacusis and phonophobia. The body of people with misophonia reacts negatively when exposed to certain sound stimuli.
The word “misophonia” was coined by the doctors Pawel Jastreboff and Margaret Jastreboff in the year 2000. This term comes from the Greek “misos”, which means hatred, and “foné”, which means sound. Therefore, misophonia can also be defined as “selective sensitivity to sound”.
What is misophonia really?
As we have said, misophonia consists in a lower tolerance towards certain sounds. Those who suffer from it do not tolerate some specific sounds. What for most people is a background sound, for others it is deeply unpleasant .
Noises such as chewing, the rattle of cutlery or the drumming of the fingers become unbearable for people suffering from misophonia. Some of the sounds that cause this malaise have a relatively low intensity, from 40 to 50 decibels.
This hostility to sounds is amplified if the people who produce them have sentimental ties with those who suffer from this disorder. For example, if they belong to the same family or are close friends. Baltimore primary school teacher Meredith Rosol, diagnosed with misophonia, says she never eats with her parents. Eat with them only if you put earplugs on.
