So, there’s this thing. I used to think it was just an unpleasant part of my personality, but it’s a real thing! As in, I can’t control it and there are others out there!
It’s called Misophonia, literally, “hatred of sound”. The most common trigger for misophones* (misophoniacs?) is the sound of other people eating. This isn’t just an annoyance to misophones – it can actually send us into a rage. Usually just an inner rage, but a rage, nonetheless.
I learned about this recently at my knitting group. I said something about how I always play music when I have people over to dinner, because I can’t stand the sounds of people eating. My friend Steven piped up then, and mentioned a New York Times article he recently read about Misophonia. I pulled the article up on my iPad and lo and behold! I thought it was just me and my sisters with this problem!
Since then, I’ve talked about this discovery with others, and I’ve found that I have two close friends with Misophonia. It’s funny, because this is a disorder, but we are always delighted to share how much we hate certain sounds. I suppose this is because we’ve been keeping it mostly a secret our whole lives, and now we get to “own it” because it’s actually hard-wired in our brains. Like being right or left handed, and not just being a weirdo.
Turns out that my Misophonia is pretty run-of-the-mill. My triggers are the sounds of people eating (smacking, crunching – geez, I can barely type out the words for it), the sound of liquid glugging out of a bottle, the crinkling of plastic food bags, any sound that is made by styrofoam, the sounds of the letters “S” and “P” together (like the word “s-o-u-p-s”, ugh, don’t say it), and the sound of dogs cleaning themselves.
Apples are the worst.
I also have a problem with any song by Creedence Clearwater. It might just be that I really dislike the band, but now that I think about it, it’s probably a Misophonia trigger because of the rage I feel. I find myself running to the source of the music and quickly turning it off whenever I hear the first couple of bars of one of their songs.
I’m writing this post in the hopes that another misophone will read this and get the same jolt of excitement I got in learning that this is a real thing. There is no treatment for it or anything, but maybe just knowing that this is a named condition will let us share stories and even laugh about it.
So, what sounds send you into a rage?
*I realize that I probably made up this word.
OH MY GOD! I thought it was just me being snarky! I am SO completely put off by the sounds of people eating…I mean…I want to beat people when I have to hear them chewing. I cannot go to movies because of the sound of people eating popcorn. Thanks for sharing this info…I truly had no idea it was a real disorder!
Yep…I have it too. It started when I was about 13 and I lived with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousin. She slurped her milk in the morning and soup….I wanted to take her head off.
I do appreciate your putting this information out there.
I still know that I’m Ka-razee…just not about this.
Thanks Staci!!
Jenny – it’s so funny how similar our experiences are! I have the same problem with going to the movies. Both the eating sounds and the sounds of the food packages crinkling.
Jolt of excitement describes it totally! My mother and I are both like this. It drives my husband crazy because I need sound when we sit down for dinner with the kids. Otherwise I do feel rage. It starts and after a few minutes I’m sitting there gritting my teeth and digging my nails into my hands.
All the things you listed annoy me…except CCR. lol
Oh Staci…the crinkling bag thing makes me insane…and people opening up little pieces of individually wrapped candies…and then playing with the wrappers…OH MY GOD! I swear I thought I was the only person that felt this and that I was just being difficult!
OMG!! I’m not weird after all!! My husband and kids think I’m crazy but I can’t stand certain sounds especially anything related to eating ones. They all know this and turn up the TV or music when we have meals. I recently took a course over 3 full days and the person beside me always would have a snack of an apple and the person across from me would be eating from a chip bag. I just about quit the course because I couldn’t stand it! I thought I was going to go out of my mind and/or my head would explode. These little snippets of the course I really don’t know what was taught because I was using all my mental powers to stay in control and not lose it.
people who cannot keep their fingers and hands still, constantly have tobe moving them, ,
Such an interesting ‘condition’!
I hear you about audible eaters. In some parts of the world, this was a real problem for me… Won’t go into details here, but suffice to say, I truly appreciate those who eat with their mouths closed.
My Basenji will also wake me up with the sounds of her very thorough butt cleaning. Something about the sound of how she cleans THAT particular part of her anatomy is especially intrusive. I have no problem with how she cleans any other parts, or the way the other dog with his daintier tongue cleans himself.
One that really gets to me is the high-pitched kreeee of television sets. I will not dine at places with a television set — or at least, I will sit at a distance. Though I grew up watching LOTS of TV, somehow in my teenaged years I started developing a sensitivity to this noise. I’ve never had a television set of my own and have lived without one in the house for the last decade or so. This to me has been a good thing.
What pisssssss me off most,is the smell of garlic on peoples breath. So inconsidate.
Oh my. I just found about this recently and I am 65! I could never understand the rage that goes along with this. I have been able to separate this disorder from my husband and others and the awful noise. Now I know I really do love them, just not the noise! Hope this is helpful to others.
oh my god i thought it was just me !!! totally understand you and sometimes it makes me stop eating and smoothly excuse myself and leave the table as if i finished eating :S
I really thought that some of those sounds were universally disliked.
Truly!
Eating sounds are simply SO unpleasant. I had decided that the only reason some eaters didn’t irritate me to death was just because they had learned how to eat more quietly. In other words, that this wasn’t MY problem (“everyone hates those sounds”) but that it was just some people were incapable of eating quietly.
TV droning also sends me into orbit.
Very interesting, Staci.
Bananas are the worst if the chewer doesn’t close his / her mouth.
Oh my word! Drives me NUTS! I’m a medical transcriptionist & can type the most gruesome injuries but cannot handle them eating while dictating. Glad to know I’m not alone.
Oh boy! People snapping gum, my poor beloved father’s “glerk” sound when he swallowed. Any clicking sound at all. God forbid you pick at a fingernail and make it click. (Shudder!) My beautiful dog when she cleaned herself. Any slurping noises. Ack-k-k! Big noises, great! I am famous for having slept through “Midway” in Thunderound or whatever the sound system was. But just make the tiniest “click” sound when I’m trying to sleep and I’ll have murder in my heart and be WIDE awake. Oh girl you have company.
the sound of people chewing really loudly or with their mouth open, it’s the worst sound ever, my college room mate would eat with her mouth open, to get back at her I would try chew chips with my mouth open and I couldn’t do it, I was annoying myself. And I should not hear you from across the restaurant!
Uggggh!! The sound of someone slurping/sucking on a piece of hard candy will just about send me running from the room so that I won’t yell at them to stop! That’s one of the worst sounds for me.
Finally – I’m no longer the over sensitive evil sister. I could not stand to hear my brother eat anything that crunched or anything he slurped. As children I waited until he was done eating – I know it sounds horrible but I just couldn’t sit through it.
Along with eating sounds, I hate the sound of popping bubble wrap.
I love dogs so very much but when they eat or drink water, the noise annoys me to no end. I also have a brother who chews with his mouth open, it makes me want to get up a knock him on his behind. People making noise eating drives me CRAZYYYYYYY!!!!! When I was raised by my grandparents, my grandmother had false teeth and she would gum her food and slirp her drinks. It was so annoying that I copied her and she got mad at me. I couldn’t help doing that, because it was not only annoying but detracting. Another thing that really irritates me is SNORING, can not stand it. THANKS STACI FOR POSTING>>>>>
The sound of people eating doesn’t bother me, but sniffling will drive me up the wall. I want to yell – “just blow your nose!!!!”
And you don’t like CCR?!!! Dear me – they are one of my favorite bands ever.
Definitely the sound of people eating. I really like your idea of playing music while eating. I’m going to try that and see if I can enjoy my dinner. I also hate that KitKat commercial where they are breaking the candy apart. That sets my nerves on edge something fierce!
I have to leave the kitchen when DH eats cereal, and I once left one floor of our very large library because some woman was cracking and chewing her gum, mouth wide open. No matter where I went, I could hear her. Had we been stuck in a plane together, there’s a 50% chance I would have been arrested. Fortunately, the list of sounds that make me homicidal is short, and I now carry my MP3 player with me pretty much everywhere I go. I’m kinda looking forward to losing some of my hearing as I age…hopefully it’ll be a break for me. :o)
Oh boy, I’m so glad I’m not alone. I seriously just thought I was crazy for getting so upset when I had to listen to people eat. I go nuts! I can’t stand listening to people eat chips, especially when they don’t close their mouth. UGH! It really makes me crazy when people scrape their teeth on the fork, or spoon. Seriously, you need to scrape your teeth on a spoon to get the yogurt (or s.o.u.p) off? Ever see the movie “What about Bob?”, when they are eating and he keeps making the yum noises? DRIVES ME NUTS!!!
(2nd posting) I forgot a really intense revulsion that I have, and that’s when an enthusiastic eater cuts right through the food and I hear the knife score the plate! OMG that’s bad!
Like most of the others commenting, I thought it was just me. My dogs licking or drinking and my cat giving himself a bath….AAARRGH. Just makes me so angry and I could never understand why. The sound of a lone cricket also nearly puts me over the edge. When we were first married I’m sure my husband thought I was out of my mind–I’d crawl out of bed in the middle of the night with a flashlight to hunt down a chirping cricket. And it hasn’t been that long ago that I asked him if he’s always made that much noise when he eats. Poor guy. Now I can tell him it really is me. Thanks for the information. Glad to know I’m only semi-crazy.
OMG!!! I used to think that the problem was me…..but nooooooooo! it was them! I was married into an entire family of bad-chewers who talked with their mouths full of food. No matter how politely I reminded them to not do this, they kept on a talkchewsmacking….(new word). It got to the point of me leaving the table it was so bad. Then when I had to eat dinner with my husband alone, (lord have mercy on me) it was disgusting! I feel relieved! My ears feel so much better knowing that there are others out there who can’t stand it either. There are some many sounds that I can’t stand to listen to it would take all day to list them….so I won’t. giggling! Thank you for bringing this subject to light…it is a load off my ears!
OMG!!!!!
I am soooo happy I’m not the only one!!! THANK YOU!!!
I cannot stand my husband eating with his mouth open….smacking away. I feel like beating the crap out of him and I HATE violence!!..lol. I have to leave the room when he’s having a snack…my blood boils!!!
My sister gulps her water….and I hate it when I’m on the phone and the the individual that I’m speaking with starts snacking on something…chomping away!!!! Urrrrrgggg.
Mary
I thought I was the only one! My husband grinds his teeth in the middle of the night which makes me as crazy as the sound of someone smacking gum. But I will add misophonia to my vernacular – just like my pizza-phone-aphobia (Unable to call and order pizza – it’s a real thing.)
Me too! My husband teases me a little about it, but the rhythm of his breathing while he sleeps drives me insane. I run a fan at night to keep a constant sound in the room. We have been married for 21 years, so I am pretty sure it isn’t something I’m going to get used to. Oh, coughing puts me over the edge. Not just one or two little coughs. I am talking about that nagging over and over. It doesn’t matter whether it is me, a stranger or even one of my children. I can’t stand it!
Thanks for sharing.
I really dislike the eating sounds especailly going to movies. It’s so unpleasant sound.
Absolutely! Any kind of lip smacking, or sucking food from teeth, or grunting, or…. BLECH! Makes my skin crawl.
Husband got mad at me a year or two ago when he came up behind me and tried to kiss my ear, but when he opened his mouth it made that spitty sound and rather than take an ear kiss I whipped around and yelled “Ewwwww don’t do that ever again that’s so GROSS!!!!”
Luckily he’s used to my quirks by now, and we quickly sorted out that the root of the problem was the spit sound, not the kiss.
Thank god there’s a name for this. I seriously thought I had some type of minor mental disorder no one talked about! I don’t like chewing/food sounds but squeaks do me in. Squeaking beds, floors, steps all drive me nuts. That and scratching sounds like windshield wipers. Even the sound of my daughter rubbing her feet together next to me right now is causing this tension up my arms and into my shoulders and neck. I remember trying to explain it to my usually compassionate and understanding mother when I was about thirteen. She thought I was nuts.
Thank you for giving me validation that there are others out there.
OMG, Thank you all for these comments!!! My twin sister and I just thought we were “B-words”!!! This would be
funny if it wasn’t such a crazy maker. I understand better now, why I enjoy being by myself! I will say Staci, I do find it very calming to watch you knit so thanks for being better than “meds” LOL
I know I have this condition but didn’t know it had a name. I also think my mom has it. She can’t stand the sound of the clicking of turning signals when we or she drives. Needless to say she doesn’t use them and she gets mad when we do! Funny! Now is there a name for the feeling you get when your husband of twenty something years speaks? LOL!
OMG…..After posting and reading all these comments made me think….HEY!!!! We are all human!!! We are normal!
Keep on smiling 🙂
Mary:)
I thought it was just me too! Eating chips, chewing ice, bananas, crunchy cereal, apples, fingernail clipping, swishing with mouthwash,gum chewing, other bodily functions. I have tried casually putting my fingers in my ears and trying to act like I’m just propping my chin on my hands(my long hair covers my fingers in the ears 😉
I loved this blog post! this could be me! hurrah! thanks for sharing it! I have often wondered what is the matter with me that I’m so narked by this! lol! I tend to do same as you and insist on music playing in the background!!
Its developed over time to also include “breathing” which is a bit unfortunate as you can’t avoid that! and I have had dh get all cross at me when I wake him up and ask that he please STOP BREATHING!! NOW!! GRR!! .. during the day occasionally I hiss at him YOU’RE BREATHING! AGAIN! STOPP!!! .. bah! love it! thanks!
oh! ps weirdly I don’t mind and quite enjoy, even the “greedy” sounds that cats (and dogs) make when scoffing their food – thats weird, isn’t it?
Love all the comments too seems like it affects a lot of us!
Sue x
I’m so glad to see that this has a name. In addition to my building rage when people make noise while they eat…I am physically unable to go in to any establishment that throws sawdust on the floor. There are several restaurants in the greater Los Angeles area that have cement floors with sawdust scattered about. The squeeking noise of the sawdust on the concrete is enough to make me cry. No one else can hear it or feel it and yet to me it is as loud as a marine sgt screaming in my face.
Eating sounds don’t bother me but the sound of someone blowing their nose totally grosses me out. I cannot stand it. I don’t feel rage, I feel repulsion. Totally grossed out and it makes me almost nauseous. I do not blow my nose in public. I go into the restroom, away from everyone. The sound of a dog bathing is equally disgusting.
Okay, so you’re saying I’m not insane or have a mental problem! OMG!!! I’m not able to express how happy I am to have read your blog today. Growing up kids would always pop their gum while taking test, urrr. My dh of 27 years clicking his nail ALL the time while driving or when watching tv. The sounds that he makes while eating food with his mouth shut, almost like a pig snorting. My sister and her daughter chew gum like it was going out of style and they smack it like no other human. My husbands mother has falsies and she loves chewing nuts and smacks as she speaks, I can’t visit with her not only becaue she’s the mother-in-law from hell, but I suffer from MISOPHONIA.. Yeah thank you sooooo much.. hehe
Sorry, one last thing. I feel like going postal on my hubby all the time. Not to enjoys the tv being on while he is busy on his laptop clicking and clicking. He says I have a quirk and short fuse. He can’t eat cereal around me because of the clinking his spoon makes, so I bought plastic bowls. Lol Also forget going shopping on weekends or holidays, too much people noises. Last time went to movies I had to speak up to this group of teenage girls they were all talking so fast and talking over each other and they reminded me of a group of rats on crack. I scared the living crap out of them and they shut up for the rest of the movie. Oh well, at least I’m not crazy.
when my husband eats cereal….eeerrrrrr!!!! But i like CCR.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one! Like most other people said, I thought it was just me! I have to leave the room when my husband and son eat their cracklin’ oat bran for breakfast. And I’ll add one to the list…people blowing air into the phone as they talk! Ughhhhhhhhh……
Well, I hadn’t thought of it in terms of a disorder, or anything having a name. I can’t stand the sound of people chewing, either. That squishy sound – gag. And whistling. Bing Crosby – ok. But otherwise? And when people whistle in public it just makes me want to scream. And CCR – like fingernails on a chalkboard. But I have ADD, so I figure that’s why I can’t tune out sounds, like a little bitty squeak in the car. I’ll beat the dashboard and doors to death trying to find it. Drives my husband crazy. And dripping water.
For me, it’s more of a texture thing that sets me off (like those soft wooden “spoons” that come with small ice cream samples), but there are a couple of sounds that have me gritting my teeth.
The first is the sound of styrofoam rubbing together. Oh, how I use to hate fishing trips because my dad would always bring one of those nasty styrofoam coolers, and no matter how you attached the lid, it would end up squeaking the entire car trip up and back.
The other is the sound of certain knitting needles scraping against each other. Part of it is sound, and part of it is the slightly grainy texture registering in my hands. I knit predominantly with acrylic or resin needles for that very reason.
heehee…I came here via Pinterest to look at your knitting tutorials and lo and behold I find a kindred spirit on the ‘eating noise thing’. My family think I’m really weird. Now I can tell them that if I *am* weird, well at least I’m not alone! I’m also smiling at Sandy’s comment (above). I crochet but I wistfully look at the more elegant, modern knitting patterns. I bought smooth, steel knitting needles yesterday to try and revive my sparse knowledge (from 40+ years ago) because I know that the wooden needles I used as a child ‘set my teeth on edge’. Aren’t we humans an odd lot?! 🙂
Hello Staci,
while I myself do not suffer from this disorder, my Sister and I do believe my Niece have it. I believe my Nieces is worse by far as she takes to tearing paper or tissue to shreds when angry. She yells and talks loudly a lot. She also has issues with feet, she will actually start crying if someones feet are any where near her. She is the oldest twin, she & her Sister are Identical Mirror twins. That means that where she is left handed her Sister is right handed. I’m glad to know that she & her Mother aren’t the only ones out there.
I’ve really enjoyed learning new Technic’s at verypink.com. I came across(quite by accident)the Magic Loop Sock Knitting video on youtube and became hooked. I am an average knitter at best & had been wanting to try my hand at socks for a long time. I had tried other methods and failed, but armed with your tutorials and your teaching I have made three sets of socks that I am proud of. They may not be award winning, but at least they look like socks. Thank You…
Just want to say I am so blown away by this misophonia illness. I have read all the comments and feel so sorry for all those folks who have problems with sounds. Thankfully, I do not have this problem. I am glad to know about it so I can be more aware of how I act in public. I do not chew with my mouth open, or smack, or make much noise when I eat. I guess it’s how one is brought up how one eats. Of course, you could have a nasal problem which forces you to eat with your mouth open. Anyway, I hope someone is working on this and will come out with a help or cure for misophonia. Wow, you learn something new every day. And, I have to say this is a wonderful knitting site!
I realise I am a little late commenting on this post, but I had to share…It is a very fine line for me with sounds. If someone is slurping soup or a drink, that does drive me insane. I do, however, have something called ASMR, which is almost the pole opposite of Misophonia. ASMR (or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) is a condition where certain sounds can cause a tingling sensation and send you into a dep relaxed state, and often send you to sleep. The best way most people who have the condition would describe the sensation is a ‘brain-gasm’ lol.
Triggers do often include nasl breathing while eating, or just eating sounds in general. I know just about everyone who posted above will now hink I’m totally screwed up, but I actually really enjioy the sound of someone crunching on an apple (as long as they do it with their mouth losed, and no smacking sounds!!) and it can actually put me in a trance-like state!
:o) xMx
And I have just proved why I should check my spelling before I hit ‘post’. That was
*everyone will *think* – not hink
and
*can include *nasal* breathing.
xMx