According to a recent study by British researchers, one in five adults suffers from misophonia.
Everyone has been annoyed by the click of a college pen or a repeated throat clearing. However, for some people, the discomfort can be much more pronounced and stem from a neurological disorder: misophonia, etymologically the hatred of sound.
According to a study by researchers at King’s College London published on March 22 in PLOS One, one in five British adults suffers from this still little-known pathology. In fact, only 14% of those affected had heard this term before, as reported The Guardian.
However, misophonia should not be confused with hyperacusis, linked to a hearing dysfunction that causes hearing hypersensitivity.
Anger, panic, obsession
The study was conducted among 772 people representative of the population. They responded to questionnaires and a series of interviews to determine the frequency of misophonia and how it manifests and is characterized.
Thus, a list of 37 sounds triggering the disorder was submitted: chewing, heavy breathing, keyboard keys, sniffling… In short, repetitive everyday noises, often of human origin.
Participants were asked regarding their reactions to these different sounds and the effect they have on them. It is the nature of this reaction that determines whether a person suffers from misophonia. While the average person may be irritated or disgusted by some of the sounds, people with misophonia react with anger or panic and may become obsessed with that sound.
Isolement social
Misophonia is a disproportionate emotional response to these noises, to the point of weighing heavily on the daily lives of these people. The British study shows that this can cause outbursts of anger, panic or hostility towards the people making the noise.
Additionally, the researchers point out that individuals with misophonia also feel guilt regarding their reactions and may sometimes isolate themselves to escape them.
This is particularly accentuated by the fact that the vast majority of them do not know their pathology and therefore suffer from misunderstanding of their behavior. Thus, scientists hope for more in-depth research on the subject to identify the causes and mechanisms of this disease, to find solutions.