What is misophonia?

Misophonia is a hypersensitivity to certain everyday sounds and is usually described by sufferers as anger and hatred. It is thought to be a neurological and/or psychological disorder.

However, misophonics do not react to extremely loud noises, such as the squeaking of chalk on a blackboard, but rather to normal everyday noises such as swallowing, chewing, clearing the throat or breathing.

The symptoms of misophonia depend on the individual and can therefore vary greatly. Those affected are usually irritated, disgusted, and react angrily and aggressively. However, physical symptoms such as sweating, shortness of breath, and nausea can also occur. Additionally, social withdrawal can occur if those affected encounter a lack of understanding from others, making it impossible, for example, to share a meal with family.

The triggers can be just as varied as the symptoms. Nevertheless, the triggers can be divided into different sound categories:

Eating sounds: smacking, eating chips, chewing gum, slurping, drinking, swallowing, chewing
Breathing or sniffing noises: snoring, sniffing, breathing, sneezing
Sounds from finger movements: ballpoint pen clicking, tapping with fingers on a surface, typing on a keyboard
Mouth or throat noises: clearing throat, coughing, whispering, kissing, yawning
Ambient noises: The ticking of a clock, animal noises such as a whistling bird, conversations from neighbors, telephone ringing
Rustling sounds: turning the pages of a book, shaking a plastic bag

There is also no clear research on the cause of misophonia. However, it is suspected that it is related to negative experiences in childhood or traumas experienced throughout life.

Tips for misophonia:

Noise suppression with hearing protection that blocks out distracting background noise. Tip: Our Invisible+ is ideal for everyday use, as its virtually invisible design makes the hearing protection unnoticeable and suppresses distracting background noise, allowing you to still carry on a conversation.

Distraction so that you focus on something else in your environment and the trigger slips into the background.

Relaxation to push negative feelings into the background and focus attention on something else. Yoga, muscle relaxation, or autogenic training are suitable for this.

A trigger-free place , where you consciously avoid the noises. Of course, the person affected decides for themselves what a trigger-free place means. This could be their own room, for example.

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