Fast and Easy Ways to Annoy People with Misophonia

Do you live with someone who has misophonia? Better yet, what is misophonia? Misophonia is a very complicated and little understood disorder that affects a person's sensitivity to noise. You may have noticed your son getting upset over the slightest sounds or your husband telling you "Stop raking your fork on your teeth!"  Individuals with misophonia get emotionally upset over sounds and ticks other people rarely hear.

My husband and daughter have misophonia. It wasn't until my Mom watched...
20/20 about a teen suffering with the disease that we realized both Steve and Sloane have the disorder.  I  learned to deal with what I thought to be short tempers from both of them. I feared Sloane had inherited a poor character trait from her Dad. She inherited a real disorder.

The word misophonia literally translates to "hatred of sound". Hatred of sound is in fact an understatement for those who suffer from this disorder. Misophonia sufferers are extremely sensitive to sound, so much so that they have sometimes violent reactions to a certain set of sounds called "triggers".

Here are the top 10 triggers at our house:

1. Crunch ice (My son-in-law loves to crunch ice, uh-oh)
2. Eat potato chips (I'm a closet potato chip eater!)
3. Rake your fork on your teeth (I can't seem to eat without raking my fork on my teeth)
4. Any kind of continuous tapping (I can't seem to cook without banging a spoon on a pot)
5. Gum chewing and popping (If I get to chew gum, I can't blow a bubble or pop)
6. Nose Whistling (my husband says my nose plays a different tune every day)
7. Humming a tune (with your mouth and not your nose)
8. Heavy footsteps (my husband has always told our oldest daughter she walks like an elephant)
9. Typing on a keyboard or texts with sound (silence is golden at our home)
10. Water bottle squeezing (I can't seem to drink out of a water bottle without it making a loud noise)

My family found some sympathy for Steve and Sloane after the 20/20 episode. We thought they were just being awfully dang picky! The household experienced turmoil when they stomped from a room when crunching became too loud or they called us out on every little noise we made. Steve manages his better since he's older and we feel Sloane may mature into the management of her disorder too. Now, we are cognizant of their disorder and at least try not to purposefully annoy them. Ah! Sweet harmony! My nose has even quit singing! There's interesting misophonia information on Google if you want to learn more about the disorder.

Misophonia makes these two Dr. Jekyll and Miss Hyde!

Being very, very quiet,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap

health