Misophonia is the heightened sensitivity and reactivity to particular meaningful triggers resulting in aversive physiological arousal, emotions, and thoughts.
The word misophonia translates literally into "hatred of sound," but this can be misleading because (1) anger is not the only emotion experienced in misophonia and (2) some people also have visual triggers without sound.
Misophonia is not formally recognized as a specific type of neurological, audiological, or psychiatric disorder.
Each individual may have his, her, or their own unique trigger sounds such as:
- Chewing, slurping, sniffing, loud breathing, tapping, clicking, etc.
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Most often, repetitive or patterned sounds that are difficult to avoid
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Commonly sounds made by other people, but some people have aversion to environmental non-human noises (e.g., mechanical noises such as ticking or clicking sounds)
A Misophonic response is not usually caused by the loudness of the trigger, and it may not be consistent across people or environments. Responses can vary over time.
Read Consensus Definition of Misophonia: A Delphi Study for more details.