Yuletide Transforms Into a Nightmare for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
A 23-year-old hopes for seeing her family over the holidays, but notes a key strategy she'll endure is by using her hearing protection - particularly at the holiday meal.
In her case, the holidays is a especially challenging period as the noises of people eating, sipping loudly and nose-blowing trigger profound anxiety.
"I experience this sensation of sudden panic, my whole body will just tighten and it as though I'm in danger, and I need to somehow control these noises."
The individual has suffered from misophonia from a young age and for her that causes the festive season "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to particular auditory triggers, notably sounds produced by individuals.
The condition is widespread amongst adults. Researchers discovered a significant portion of people suffer from it.
Typically it's sounds connected to eating or drinking that trigger a reaction, along with examples such as crunching, heavy breathing, and foot tapping.
A Source of Dread
She explains: "You encounter so many different triggering sounds at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you fear it.
"My relatives are supportive, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a really big battle of sacrificing my own sanity to ensure everyone else is happy."
So it's clear why the supposedly joyous period can transform into a stressful ordeal for those with the condition.
Sounds that may appear innocuous, like someone drinking champagne, unwrapping gifts, or enjoying festive food can provoke a visceral feeling that can even lead to them withdrawing from gatherings.
She, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with misophonia for over a decade, states currently her plan is to put her earphones in to cope. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a separate space to minimize triggering sounds.
She says her sensitivity is more pronounced around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "hard".
"There's an expectation to spend time with loved ones, and I desire to, but it's draining.
"It's like this sudden rage takes hold, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel panicked and begin to weep and then fight-or-flight will activate.
"It can come across as if I'm being oversensitive and overreacting, but it's hard to explain without firsthand experience."
A Few Techniques to Cope
If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can attempt to manage the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Picture an Alternative: Mental imagery is crucial. Work on connecting the particular sound causing distress with an unrelated image. For instance, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. By doing this is to teach your brain that the sound affecting you is neutral.
- Try a Competition: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a challenge with the person. For example, if someone is eating noisily attempt copying the noise. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help redirect your focus and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not in good health or could be emotional. The idea is altering the perception of the sound. Although the sound doesn't change, your understanding of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
