The Sounds That Are Unbearable (Misophonia explained)

I've been wondering what the difference is between people finding sounds annoying and distressing. Here, we explore Misophonia, a sound sensitivity syndrome where people have strong emotional reactions to common sounds. We meet my friend Molly Templeton and clinical psychologist Dr. Ali Mattu to talk about the brain basis of Misophonia, trigger sounds, reactions and treatment.

Written, hosted, edited and animated by Vanessa 👩🏻‍🔬
Fact Checking: Bahar Gholipour
Camera: Dominique Taylor
Sound mix: Mike Rugnetta

References 🎼

Commentary on that study:

Sounds/Images:

[braincraft]

If you do experience misophonia (or you're not sure) his video is about treatments. The Psych Show has a lot of really useful videos for managing things like this in your everyday life.

[eddebrock]

I get angry at human mouth and nose sounds. Eating, slurping, coughing, sneezing, burping, sniveling, smacking, breathing etc.

I remember finding out about misophonia, it was a relief. Like, it's not just me!

[rhiannon]

the worst is when you tell someone how frustrated it makes you and they think it’s a joke and make the sounds on purpose, or they think I can just control how I react to the noises and ignore my feelings because they don’t understand what it’s like to have misophonia

[MichaelLKW-Fahrer]

The sound of people eating drives me nuts. The majority of the time i have to leave the room. I get so angry.

[mirela]

I've cried at the table because of how annoyed and angry I've been by the sound of everyone around me eating. Eating sounds are pure torture for me :(

[センナ-hc]

I see symptoms I and you guys have for Misophonia, namely:
- We dislike eating with family
- We tend to wear headphones/earphones or play radios to wash the sound away
- We feel frustrated when hearing those noises
- We're so disrupted that we can't even focus on our own business

[TheTinkili]

I do have misophonia. My biggest problems are the wet chewing sounds from people eating. Not only these, but also when people wisper and they make these tiny smacking sounds, you know? Like people that do ASMR make. I find that horrible, it makes me for some reason aggressive and I just want it to stop. To think that other people enjoy ASMR of that type is interesting to me.

[thirtythreeflavors]

why the hell would you have all these awful sounds happening over and over again in a video about misophonia? It's almost cruel.

[miadeg]

Hearing eating noises drives me up a wall. I get angry, irritable, and annoyed.

[Sophiesaurus]

Misophonia has torn my relationship with my dad :(

[williwildfang]

That's why I don't find ASMR satisfying. ASMR eating is THE WORST

[Padauts]

I just cant stand it if people eat noisily. *smack, smack, smack* It makes me fcking aggressive xD

[pbsvoices]

Okay, first of all, that thumbnail....

[nogxx]

Sometimes when someone talks under their breath I somehow get really irritated and aggressive. I feel like punching them LOL

[christiestreicher]

This condition has affected me negatively my whole life. Relationships are difficult with miso.

[TLizaT]

I HAATEEE when someone snores and I can’t sleep. I feel like I just wanna rip my skin off
But I don’t think I have misophonia because this is the only sound that, like angers me

[cassif]

When I hear chewing sounds, my whole body tenses up and I can't focus on anything, even if it's something as simple as eating my own meal. I don't have this problem with crispy things, but pretty much everything else triggers it. I always have to turn on the radio while eating with my family and they sometimes get mad at me. They don't understand the strong physical response that I feel.

[terryheasley]

The sound of people loudly chewing gum or eating with their mouth open distresses me to the point of serious anger.

[mikenahbailey]

Why.

Why am I torturing myself like this at 1:30am

[itzy-shi]

People saying shh or shushing repetitive also "ahh ahh ahh" in a scolding way or getting someone to stop.Makes me go MAD.