My Thoughts on: Misophonia

Do you hate the sound of people chewing? I do.

*Warning - this post is going to be a bit more of a rant than my other 'A note on...' posts*

For all the lucky people who don't know what misophonia is, it is when you are sensitive to certain sounds. Noises like someone popping their gum, chewing their food too loudly or overly loud breathing can cause you to have feelings of anger or panic. 

I live in a house with four people and we all eat dinner together. When we are all eating, I tend to put music on. Usually tunes that everyone knows, so that it's an enjoyable experience but I do this, so it masks the sound of them chewing. I have found that my hatred for people chewing always increases when I am already stressed because my emotions are already on the surface and it doesn't take much. 

One thing I have really not been able to stand at the moment is Youtube videos, where people are chewing or reviewing a food project. The sound of the chewing coming through the speakers is literally the worst noise I can physically think of.  If a YouTuber has 'Mukbang' (where they eat a lot of food) in the title I will not, repeat, will not click on that video.  It does not make me want to try the food, it does not want to make me want to watch the video, it makes my skin crawl. I would highly say that people eating loudly is one of my biggest, if not my biggest, pet peeve.

What I wanted to know though, is it normal? Is this common? So, as most people do, I took to the internet to find this out. So actually being diagnosed with Misophonia is rare, but it is common amongst people with anxiety and who get easily stressed. The main sounds that trigger a reaction (for me, an internal rage) are, babies crying, people chewing or heavy breathing. I can't say that babies crying is a trigger for me, but definitely chewing and breathing is.

After scouring the internet, I found that no-one was really sure how many people could suffer from Misophonia, but they estimated that it was 20% of the population. According to a study, '81% of people responded "no" when asked if they had spoken to their doctor about having this hatred of sound'. So why aren't more people talking about it?  Again, after extensive research, I have found that people are still trying to raise awareness of this. Which I found extremely interesting.

Sorry, this post has been super ranty, but I find the concept of Misophonia very interesting and something that should be talked about more often. Below, I have listed the two studies that you can read if you are still as interested as I am. Thank you for reading my opinion filled post! All of my 'A Note On...' series is brutally honest, but with this post, I really tapped into something I feel is very personal.

What I was listening to whilst I wrote this: Where You Are - Moana

*This is not my photo

Read more about the study: here

Read more information about Misophonia: here