Do certain noises make your life hell? You may have misophonia

A fifth of us suffer from this neurological - Maddy Mussen reports condition

- Maddy Mussen

AS I write this, a woman sitting next to me is eating, and it makes me want to unhinge my jaw and scream as loud as I can, or tear out fistfuls of my hair, or smack the food out of her hand. Or all of the above.

I have a condition called misophonia (literally "hatred of sound") and according to a study by King's College London, as many as one in five people struggle with it significantly. It's characterised by a negative emotional reaction to specific sounds, most commonly eating noises, heavy breathing or repetitive sounds like pen clicking or nail biting.

I think 'negative emotional reaction' is underselling it a bit. This isn't a mere dislike. I've shouted at loved ones over these sounds, I've left cinema screenings, I've moved house and I've dug my nails into my arm until it turns white more times than I can count.

But I'm stuck with it. Little is known about why some are afflicted. "There's no conclusive research on misophonia yet," says Dr Jane Gregory, a clinical psychologist who suffers from the condition herself. She has devoted five years to researching misophonia, which she believes is an adaptive feature most people left behind with evolution.

"It's the same mechanism in your brain that allows you to tune into the sound of footsteps of someone walking behind you, even when the traffic's loud," Dr Gregory explains. "So the footsteps are quieter than the traffic, but you can still hear the footsteps. And your brain says, 'Oh, that could be something, don't ignore it. Stay on guard."" Unfortunately for misophonia sufferers, this fight-or-flight mode is also triggered by non-threatening things, like eating noises and people breathing.