We’ve all heard them… that girl chomping on her gum, the annoying kids obnoxiously slurping their spaghetti noodles, the guy who’s so into his popcorn that he feels the need to let the entire movie audience know. Annoying, right?
For some of you, it’s so annoying that you’ve probably gotten into a hostile situation with one of these offenders. Now, there’s an actual explanation for this utter hatred of smacking: a disorder called Misophonia.
Misophonia translates to “hatred of sound,” but it doesn’t mean anything audible sets you off. If you have the disorder, certain noises can trigger anger and make you uncomfortable.
Which, basically, describes most of the human population, especially since tests suggested that the most common noises that really pushed people over the edge were ‘mouthy noises.’
From tests which monitored the reactions of participants to certain noises, those considered to have misophonia had a greater response than those without. Strangely however, the misophoniacs knew they were overreacting and tried to stay calm, but the strategies they used would have a negative effect on their daily lives.
Dr. Pawel Jastreboff uses positive reinforcement to retrain the brain to associate positive experience with negative triggers. For example, smelling and eating your favorite food when you feel a noisy eater in your presence.
That process could work, but you might just end up hating your favorite foods. Either way, take this as proof that we’re not all crazy for being noisy-eater-haters. Maybe together we can beat misophonia.
But probably not.
