Yuletide Can Be a Living Hell for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
A 23-year-old anticipates spending time with her loved ones this Christmas, but notes a primary method she'll manage to get through it is by using her hearing protection - particularly at the main festive feast.
For her, this time of year is a particularly difficult season as the sounds of other people chewing, slurping and nose-blowing cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"There's this feeling of immediate anxiety, my entire being will just tighten and it feels like I'm in danger, and I need to somehow control these noises."
The individual has lived with this condition for several years and for her that makes the holiday period "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to particular auditory triggers, notably sounds produced by individuals.
It is prevalent across the population. Experts discovered nearly 20% people are affected by it.
Frequently it's sounds associated with eating or drinking that cause distress, along with examples such as crunching, breathing, and foot tapping.
'Anxiety Inducing'
Lottie says: "You encounter so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you dread it.
"My relatives are understanding, but I'm very aware that I don't want to upset others. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to make sure everyone else is happy."
So it's obvious why the traditionally happy time of the year can rapidly become a source of agony for affected individuals.
Sounds that may appear innocuous, like someone sipping a beverage, unwrapping gifts, or eating the holiday meal can trigger a strong emotional response that can even lead to them avoiding social settings altogether.
She, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with misophonia since aged 10, states her strategy is to listen to music to get through dinner. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a separate space to avoid distressing triggers.
She notes her condition is worse around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "challenging".
"There is pressure to be around loved ones, and I wish to, but it's draining.
"It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel anxious and begin to weep and then fight-or-flight will kick in.
"To others it appears as if I'm being oversensitive and overreacting, but it's tough to describe unless you've experienced it."
Three Ways to Handle It
If you suffer then there are a few methods you can use to handle the situation, according to specialists.
- Visualise Something Else: Imagination is crucial. Work on connecting the particular sound causing distress with something completely different. As an illustration, try to envision someone's slurping is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to teach your brain that the sound triggering you poses no threat.
- Make it a Game: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a competition involving the source. As an example, if someone is eating noisily try copying the noise. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an active participant. And the competition element should help distract your brain and make you a little less affected.
- Create a Scenario: A further strategy is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. So if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not feeling well or maybe they're upset. This approach is altering the perception of the sound. Even though the noise stays the same, your reaction of it changes from being aggravating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
