I recently found out I have a neurological disorder. I won’t die, but I just wanted to share. 

I suffer from a neurological disorder called “misophonia” which is the hatred of sound.

According to my official self-diagnosis, “people who have misophonia are most commonly angered, and even enraged, by common ambient sounds, such as other people clipping their nails, brushing teeth, chewing crushed ice, eating, slurping, drinking, breathing, sniffing, talking, sneezing, yawning, walking, chewing gum, laughing, snoring, typing on a keyboard, whistling or coughing; saying certain consonants; or repetitive sounds.”

I have an office mate who chews gum constantly and it drives me bonkers. He also shuffles paper a lot and rubs his own leg. He’s an OK person, but in a super quiet room, I just can’t deal with it. I have another office mate who eats protein bars and the crinkly plastic packaging makes me cringe. She’s polite enough to open it when I’m not in the room, though. I have another office mate who saved a bunch of super expired pop from being put down the drain (where it belongs) and to prove his point that "no one will die from drinking expired pop", he filled a huge glass with ice, poured two cans of pop into it and victoriously slurped the soda and with every loud sip, he would smack his lips and excitedly say, “aaahhhhhhhhhh…” and put the cup down. I almost moved my desk.

Humming, whistling, crunching, chewing, constant repetitive text message alerts, fake plastic nails tapping on a keyboard and whispering are also high on the irritation scale. I can’t even go to the movies it’s so bad. If I do go, I need to sit in the back because the sounds behind me are so distracting, I can’t focus on the screen.

Some of these sounds can’t be helped. Some of them can. Whatever sounds people are making, I love to drown them out with Simply Noise and my trusty Sony Studio Monitor Headphones.

What sounds do you hate?

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