If there are certain sounds that trigger an extremely negative reaction in your, from rage or annoyance to disgust or even panic, you might have a condition called misophonia. The triggering sounds can vary from person to person, including slurping, swallowing, breathing, lip-smacking, sniffling, or even the clicking of pens, the rustling of papers, or the ticking of a clock. But whatever the offending sound is for a particular person, it tends to evoke a strong emotional reaction, one that is disproportionate to the offending sound, and can include bodily reactions, such as an increase in heart rate or blood pressure.
“It’s not a benign thing, but rather it’s a condition where people really struggle when they hear particular sounds, often by particular people,” said Eric Storch, a psychology professor at Baylor College of Medicine whose research focuses on misophonia.
From the outside, the aversion to a particular sound may seem like a small thing, but for people dealing with misophonia, it can cause them to avoid certain triggers altogether or avoid specific situations where these sounds might be present. “These sounds create a heightened level of distress, but also a pretty significant level of impairment in day-to-day functioning,” Storch said.
Tips for dealing with misophonia
There still hasn’t been a lot of research on misophonia, which means there is still only limited evidence on the most effective coping mechanisms. What is clear, though, is that simply avoiding the triggering sound tends not to be an effective strategy, as that can lead to an even bigger negative impact. “The more avoidance you do, the more likely you are to avoid, and then you start disengaging from the world,” Storch said.
Instead, strategies for coping with misophonia often focus on reframing the triggering sound to make it less emotionally impactful, or focusing on the importance of participating in an event, even when there are triggering sounds associated with it.
For the first strategy of reframing the triggering sound, the general concept is to think of similar sounds that are less emotionally charged, to help reduce the emotional impact. “If you are able to reconceptualize that, instead of chewing, it might be someone walking on snow with boots, or instead of a trigger person chewing, maybe you imagine a toddler chewing, that can be one aspect that really dampens the emotional salience,” Storch said.
For the second strategy, the focus is on being able to participate in activities that are meaningful, such as attending a family dinner, even in the presence of triggering sounds like chewing. “We really work on developing a skill set, to be able to contend with those situations, and to confront those situations together with that skill set, as opposed to pulling back and avoiding all of the things that are important to you, but are a little bit distressing,” Storch said.
There is also some additional evidence that cognitive behavioral therapy can help with misophonia, although the research on its effectiveness is still very limited.
