Have you ever felt so bothered by a particular noise that you become extremely distressed or even angry? That was me this morning, although I can’t say it was the first time this situation has occurred. It happens everytime my landscaper shows up with a high powered leaf blower in hand. The perpetual noise of him blowing leaves off of my property drives me absolutely bonkers. It sent me fleeing from my home for the hour and a half he was there doing Spring clean-up. I felt perturbed, flustered, and at my wits end. Having spent the time calming down while running errands, I returned to find him gone. My whole body, especially my ears, cried with joy. You might think that sounds overly dramatic or silly but it’s not.
In the aftermath of my strong reaction, my curiosity kicked in. It got me to thinking if this particular noise sensitivity was a known “thing” among the general population or just a “thing” unto me. So I decided to do a bit of research to see. And behold, I came across a number of articles on the topic. I no longer had to worry that I was alone in my extreme response to certain sounds as my response had a name “Misophonia.”
WebMD defines misophonia as “a disorder in which certain sounds trigger emotional or physiological responses that some might perceive as unreasonable given the circumstance. Those who have misophonia might describe it as when a sound “drives you crazy.” Their reactions can range from anger and annoyance to panic and the need to flee. The disorder is sometimes called selective sound sensitivity syndrome.”
From the mild, such as “the need to flee,” to the severe, such as “rage,” misophonia impacts many in a variety of different ways. The disorder seems to have little to do with your actual ears. To that same end, the medical community has yet to understand why misophonia occurs although there is a belief that how noise is filtered in the brain may have something to do with it. Repetition of certain tones may as well. There also might be a visual aspect to the equation too.
Being a bit of a creative individual, I know that I am incredibly sensitive to the stimuli in my environment, naturally. This reality is further exacerbated when chaos, stress, and my inner dialogue is excessive for a period of time. Admittedly, that has been me lately, not unlike so many other people who find themselves entangled in the external and internal unending noise arising from the politics of this nation and worried to death about our unified future.
What to do about it? A simple, momentary change in my routine solved my issue. However, I will be re-evaluating my lifestyle and making a few needed, permanent alterations too. Beyond these solutions, audiologists suggest sound therapy, talk therapy, white noise, hearing aids (for distraction purposes), ear plugs and headsets to drown out the sounds, finding time in quiet places, and joining support groups like The Misophonia Association can all help as well. Sometimes, merely placing a name on an issue can make you feel better too.
So for all of you who are coping with misophonia but never thought to figure out why you happen to become so agitated by certain sounds, now you have your answer. We can both rest easy together knowing that we aren’t losing our minds after all…not anymore than anybody else these days, that is. Laugh all you want but you know it’s true.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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