The Sound of Chewing Makes Me Angry: Learning To Live With Misophonia

I am very fortunate to not suffer from any seriously major life-impacting medical ailments. I have no intolerances to dairy, gluten or wheat. I am also not allergic to any medications, I have sensitive skin, but that is about it.

One thing I do suffer from is a disorder called misophonia.

If you dislike or hate certain sounds, then you quite possibly also suffer from misophonia too. For me it's specifically the sound of someone chewing loudly, the louder it is the stronger the response.

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According to WebMD, misophonia is defined as:

Misophonia, also known as selective sound sensitivity syndrome, starts with a trigger. It’s often an oral sound -- the noise someone makes when they eat, breathe, chew, yawn, or whistle. Sometimes a small repetitive motion is the cause -- someone fidgets, jostles you, or wiggles their foot.

If you have a mild reaction, you might feel:

-Anxious
-Uncomfortable
-The urge to flee
-Disgust

If your response is more severe, the sound in question might cause:

-Rage
-Anger
-Hatred
-Panic
-Fear
-Emotional distress
-A desire to kill or stop whatever is making the noise
-Skin crawling
-Suicidal thoughts

I sit more towards the mild reaction side of things, however, if I am tired my reaction can be a little more severe. The sound of chewing depending on the type of chewing and whether or not I can hear breathing usually causes me to feel; anxious, uncomfortable, disgust, the urge to flee, rage, anger, hatred and a desire to stop whatever is making the noise.

One of my reactions to the sound of chewing is clenching my jaw. As a result, I suffer from TMJ because unfortunately over the years I have clenched my jaw quite a lot due to hearing the sound of chewing. I sometimes have nightmares about chewing and wake up with a really sore jaw because I was tensing it so tightly.

It's funny until it affects your way of life

A few years ago I worked for a company where a colleague of mine chewed with his mouth open. It made for a really challenging work environment, made even more difficult by the fact I shared the same office as this guy.

Noise cancelling headphones definitely helped, whenever he would open a bag of chips I knew it was time to blast some music and drown him out. But it's funny, even just knowing he was chewing loudly without hearing it still manages to make me feel different.

And let me describe the chewing to you, I can still hear it right now as I type this. It wasn't just mild chewing noises, it was chewing so loud with lip-smacking that you could hear it halfway across the office. This guy also had a hiccup problem, he would hiccup daily and it was just as loud.

I lasted at this company for 14 months, but ultimately I left after unsuccessfully asking on a couple of different occasions if I could change to a different office. I never once outed him to my bosses or confronted him about it.

I never complained about the noise because I felt petty and stupid, this was before I even heard of the term misophonia, for such a long time I just thought I was being stupid. I would come home and vent to my wife, that is it.

Seeking Help

It was after this event when I realised I needed to speak to someone, so I went and saw a doctor who recommended I see an audiologist. Using a combination of exposure to audio therapy over time I have learned to deal with it better.

The key thing with misophonia is learning to understand your triggers and how to deal with sound in the moment. While this will stick with me for life, it is not as bad as it used to be.

I can tolerate the sound of chewing a little bit more than I used to. I still get anxious, my hands still feel clammy and I cannot tolerate super loud or prolonged chewing, but it is arguably better.