Misophonia or 4S (Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome)

[Phoenix]

Just curious if anyone else has this?

[Bimsy]

I do, it is usually connected to noises that my abusers made.
Like the sound of my mom when she is singing or drinking (and the water goes down like "glug glug") I absolutely can't stand it!
Also my stepfathers whistle-songs.

But to hear people drink and make "glug"-noises is the worst!
(or chewing noises)

[john87]

No, but I have Hyperacusis. 

[tesscaline]

Yup. Definitely have this. My son thinks it's funny, sometimes, how angry I can get over the sound of chewing/slurping/lip smacking/slobbering.  He delights in seeing me "overreact" to videos on YouTube with those sorts of sounds in them, and I laugh too, once the sound is gone.  Because, well, dang. If I can't laugh at myself, what else am I gonna do?

[I like vanilla]

Wow, Phoenix, THANK YOU!

I did not even know that this was a 'thing'. I thought I was just 'too sensitive'. I googled misophonia and actually could not read the whole article because the descriptions of some of the triggering sounds were triggering to me.

I suppose I have this.

I work in a very small office space that I share with two other people, though usually there are 1-2 of us in at a time  (the footprint of the office is smaller than many of the single offices for those who are next up on the ladder from me in the hierarchy). One of my officemates taps pencils, shuffles, bounces and taps his foot, snuffles when he breathes, and chews with his mouth open. I am discovering ALL of these sounds trigger me. Worst, for me, he rubs his chin bristles, making that raspy noise! UGH, UGH, UGH!!!! I have no idea what that sound is attached to inside my self, but it is horrible, terrible, and greatly a trigger for me. My entire body clenches, my stomach churns, my heart speeds up, my eyes go out of focus just writing about it UGH!!! I actually came close to committing violence on him one afternoon... no exaggeration, I wanted to hurt him to just make him stop moving and making so MUCH NOISE.

Fortunately, I have a colleague and confidant at the office who is also a technophile. Upon learning of my problem, my colleague lent me his second-best pair* of headphones. Now, when that officemate is in I listen to music, or even just put them on with no music or anything coming through on them. They block the noise so well that he has to speak up and usually gesture to get my attention and I must take the headphones off to hear what he is saying (even with no sound coming through them so I do not need to harm my hearing with excessive volumes).

Phew!


*my colleague is using his best pair of headphones to block out the construction noise of a large-scale renovation that is being done across the hall from us. Ironically, the construction noise hardly bothers me at all even though just about everyone else is complaining about it. I seem to be able to tune out the power tools and hammering...

[mcq]

YES. It had not occurred to me that my misophonia was at all linked to my abuse until I discussed it with my therapist - and I realized that most of my misophonia triggers are based in noises my mother made. She always chewed with her mouth open, and to this day, those sort of noises drive me insane. Everyone in my life thinks it's silly, or it's not a big deal, but not being able to control my anger response.... not a joke.

[Phoenix]

Vanilla - I am so glad you now know of this! I'm sure you've seen since googling it that it's actually become a pretty chic topic (which actually annoys me because now everyone claims to have it and I'm like NO - THIS IS MUCH MORE THAN JUST "NOT LIKING" CHEWING NOISES!!!!!! lol - I can 100% relate to you though with going crazy at work. I actually always travel with earplugs - no matter where I am. When I'm in meetings - I have two different types - good ones that block out all sound and then cheapo ones that just muffle it. I'll put a good one in one ear and keep the muffle one in the other so that I can hear what's being said (barely) but my body cannot rip itself apart from the inside... because why on earth do you need to eat carrots during this meeting??

mcq - interesting... I haven't really discussed this in therapy (mentioned it - but in passing)... I've often tried to figure out if there was a connection but I haven't found it yet... but hypersensitivty seems to be my schtick... as well as cross wiring because I also have mild synesthesia (which is when words/letters/numbers are automatically associated with colors and feelings in your mind) - like the word Wednesday appears in green to me, etc.