Misophonia: People who have misophonia are most commonly annoyed, or even enraged, by such ordinary sounds as other people eating, breathing, sniffing, or coughing; certain consonants; or repetitive sounds. Intense anxiety and avoidant behavior may develop, which can lead to decreased socialization. Some people may feel the compulsion to mimic what they hear
I had no idea this was a *thing*. Apparently I’ve got it. Somehow I doubt that pushing the guy’s face into his bowl of crunchy cereal (so he can *really* get a good taste of it) is a viable prescription.
(Still, it’s a good thought)
People – too many it seems – are completely unaware of their sounds. The smack-smack-smacking of lips as folk chow down on their copious amounts of popcorn are just so damned unavoidable. But that’s okay – I enjoy popcorn too, and find a need to chew carefully when I eat it. Wouldn’t want to inadvertently be the catalyst for a homicidal episode from an overly annoyed fellow patron.
The occupant one stall over in the cubicle farm is completely ignorant of his sounds. And he has so VERY VERY many of them, and they all start around 10:00 a.m. every day. The guy starts out with some sort of crunchy cereal – which he consumes with a metal spoon from a ceramic bowl. I know because I recognize the sounds clearly: the spoon as well as the damned clanky bowl.
When he’s done he apparently has a problem with some of the foodstuffs that don’t make it down his massive gullet – which seem obvious because he suddenly starts up with the teeth-sucking. Have you ever heard someone sucking their teeth? It’s amazingly disgusting. Pfft! Pffffffffffffft!
Then there’s a myriad of other sounds. Throat-clearing, heavy breathing, coughing. (I’m guessing he doesn’t swallow normally either – hence the need to clear all of his passages of errant food stuffs.)
Once done, you’d think that would be it wouldn’t you?
Oh but you’d be so very very wrong. Because you know he has to phone someone.
Home boy doesn’t have a normal voice. No, his voice is unnecessarily loud. I don’t mean normal loud. I mean vibrantly dramatically loud. And God help us if he hears a joke because boy oh boy – he’s going to LAUGH. Not a gentle dignified laugh or chuckle either. An outright guffaw that would raise the dead and cause sheep and cows to snort in alarm. It’s not a laugh you share either – it’s a laugh that makes you piss yourself and run in fear.
One morning he was so bad that I honestly felt myself going insane. I wanted to call my boss and talk with him but he was offline. I wanted to talk with anyone but there was no one around. I could visualize myself picking up my laptop and throwing it hard across the room. Honestly – I’ve never felt that way before.
Someone offered me this advice: “when he starts up, just take a break and go to the washroom.”
My sincere response: “I’m not allowed to spend six hours in the washroom.”
****
You know – there have been many times I’ve found myself hyper-aware of annoying sounds. Maybe they’re only annoying to me though. My dad – back when he was still alive – used to hack and cack in the washroom every morning. He’d do this long dramatic throat clearing, and it would sound as if he was fixin’ to throw up the contents of his cavernous stomach. Only he’d get so far and then not actually do it. It was worse than hearing a cat coughing up a hairball. “HACK HACK *cough* HACK HAAAAAAACK!!!!!” – long 20 second count – then: “*spit*”
Used to make me almost offer up a sympathy barf.
(Sorry. I know that’ s disgusting. Now you know how I feel.)
Just a guess here but….I’ll just bet that this “misophonia” thing is exasperated if you have ADHD. In that you’re so easily distracted by anything or everything. So obviously if certain noises unduly annoy you it’s a fair bet that such noises are naturally going to catch your attention at the most inopportune of times.
For a while I was on ADHD meds and these noises didn’t annoy me nearly so much. I was aware of them – but I was able to concentrate at the task at hand, so the noises became background white noise. Time passed and I found a need to stop the meds – and the annoyances came back.
What about you? Is this topic completely new to you – or do you too suffer from this social noise pollution?
View from a Wolf 