It’s maddening listening to the better half eating and drinking. It’s the sounds he makes, then he slurps, when he is gulping … and it’s all the time.
However, scientists say that I have a problem. It’s a condition called misophonia, which literally “hatred of sound”.
A new study led by Dr Sukhbinder Kumar, Newcastle University Research Fellow in the Biosciences Institute in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, has for the first time discovered that people with misophonia have an abnormal connection between the auditory and motor regions of the brain which is triggered by someone chewing, breathing or even speaking.
The condition is affecting anywhere between 6% to 20% of people. Those with the more severe forms can find themselves unable to tolerate family, work, public or social situations.
“We think that in people with misophonia involuntary overactivation of the mirror system leads to some kind of sense that sounds made by other people are intruding into their bodies, outside of their control,” said Dr Kumar, whose study is published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
“Interestingly, some people with misophonia can lessen their symptoms by mimicking the action generating the trigger sound, which might indicate restoring a sense of control. Using this knowledge may help us develop new therapies for people with the condition.”
“When people with misophonia were played a “trigger sound”, the scans showed that the brain region involved in mouth and throat movement was overactivated compared with a control group of volunteers who did not have the condition,” he added.
Food for thought.
