Wow. I've always read about people with unusual ailments being relieved to finally have a name for what they're suffering from -- even if the prognosis is grim -- but I never thought it could happen to me. Until now. Joyce Cohen writes in today's New York Times about a poorly understood but very real condition called misophonia, and it describes me to a T.
Cohen writes:
For people with a condition that some scientists call misophonia, mealtime can be torture. The sounds of other people eating — chewing, chomping, slurping, gurgling — can send them into an instantaneous, blood-boiling rage. Many people can be driven to distraction by certain small sounds that do not seem to bother others — gum chewing, footsteps, humming. But sufferers of misophonia, a newly recognized condition that remains little studied and poorly understood, take the problem to a higher level.
“This is not voluntary,” said Marsha Johnson, an audiologist in Portland, Ore., who runs an online forum for people with misophonia. “Usually they cry a lot because they’ve been told they can control this if they want to. This is not their fault. They didn’t ask for it and they didn’t make it up.” And as adults, they “don’t outgrow it,” she said. “They structure their lives around it.”
For years I have sat in not-so-silent rage around co-workers who were persistent gum-chewers, ice-crunchers, apple-eaters, food-smackers and nose-whistlers, only to have other co-workers -- who I was sure would commiserate with me -- tell me they had no idea what I was talking about. In other words, that I was crazy.
Indeed, Aage R. Moller, a neuroscientist at the University of Texas at Dallas who specializes in the auditory nervous system, believes the condition is probably not an auditory disorder but a “physiological abnormality” that resides in brain structures activated by processed sound. So fine, I'm (a little bit) crazy. But at least I have a name for it now -- and that name might just be what I need to get a soundproof cubicle via the Americans With Disabilities Act. There is no treatment for misophonia, but just knowing that I'm not alone makes me feel better already. Oh, wait. I already knew that: My whole family is like this, as is my best friend!
Full article HERE.
UPDATE: Since I'm already hearing from so many readers, can I just mention a few other things? Whistling under any circumstances and any commercial that has the sound of carbonated beverages being opened and/or poured into a glass can drive me to distraction. Also, I can hardly watch "The Rachel Maddow Show" because of that clapping sound they play as they go to break. Rachel, I beg of you: make it stop!
12 comments:
Thanks for this. I too have the same issue, as does my father. I always just assumed I was a grumpy son-of-a-bitch!
While I wouldn't say it sends me into a rage, hearing someone eat makes me crazy. The same goes for hearing people scuff their feet when they walk, or hearing their flip-flops smack against their heels.
Oh, you're still crazy.
But that's really interesting. It totally does sound like you. (Some of us have bad sinuses! What are we supposed to do?)
I hate to admit it, but this describes me to a T too. From a young age the sound of other people chewing has driven me nuts, and God forbid I should sit near a gum chewer on an airplane. But I'm not convinced that it's a psychological problem, maybe it's just that we have super-sensitive ears?
This covers my whistling thing, too, I think!
Kenneth, I feel the same way about these sounds--someone chewing with his mouth open makes me want to pick up the nearest sharp object and stab him in the face. I also find that it's really hard for me to hear a friend speak when there are competing sounds in the area. Do you have this problem as well?
The lunchroom lady told my mom I had "sensitive ears" when I was little. My co-workers said I was mean when I berated girls in flip-flops who sounded like they were being spanked. This explains everything. Oh, and the commercials with fizzy sounds aren't nearly as bad as the unimaginative ones with computer keyboards clicking.
@JD: Yes on the chewing, don't think competing sounds are a problem for me.
@Brian: OMG -- keyboard clicking!!!!
I've had this issue for a long time too. It doesn't bother me as much when I am eating as well, but sitting in the office listening to a coworker have lunch drives me insane.
To add to the fun, one of my coworkers went on some sort of celery diet and chomps it like a damned horse every day. It is loud enough to wake the dead. I literally feel a white hot fury like I almost never feel in relation to anything else.
Has ice-clinking come up yet? Ice-chewing?
Actually Kenneth, the gum-chewers, ice-crunchers, apple-eaters, food-smackers are just rude (disgusting) people that need to learn to close their mouths. (Not sure if anything can help the nose-whistlers.) However, by its nature, ice-crunching and apple-eating are going to be somewhat noisy regardless. What gets me are the people is restaurants that are shoveling food into their maws, smacking away and talking the whole time. I ask you, where in the hell were these people raised?
Rachel Maddow clicks her tongue and that drives me nuts, I found this page trying to find others that cannot stand it. Also on talk radio when people have dry/sticky mouths and you cant hear the inside of their mouths clicking with their gums... uuuuugh.
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