The Holiday Season Often Proves to Be a Living Hell for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
Lottie anticipates seeing her family over the holidays, but notes a key strategy she'll endure is by relying on her hearing protection - particularly at the main festive feast.
In her case, the holidays often feels like a particularly difficult time as the sounds of family members munching, slurping and sniffling trigger intense distress.
"I get this sensation of sudden panic, my whole body will just freeze and it as though I'm in peril, and I need to somehow control these sounds."
The individual has experienced this condition for several years and for her that makes the Christmas time "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, particularly those produced by other people.
It is prevalent across the population. A study reported a significant portion of people suffer from it.
Often it's sounds linked to bodily functions that trigger a reaction, as well as things like chewing, heavy breathing, and pen clicking.
A Source of Dread
The sufferer notes: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you dread it.
"My relatives are supportive, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to upset others. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to ensure the event goes smoothly."
So it's clear why the supposedly joyous season can quickly turn into a stressful ordeal for affected individuals.
Sounds that may appear innocuous, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, opening presents, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can cause a powerful reaction that can even lead to them skipping events entirely.
The student, a young adult, who has experienced misophonia since aged 10, explains her strategy is to listen to music to get through dinner. Typically, she would often retreat in a quiet area to minimize problematic noises.
She notes her condition is worse around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "challenging".
"There's an expectation to spend time with family, and I wish to, but it's draining.
"It's like this sudden rage comes over me, which can feel awkward, or I'll feel anxious and begin to weep and then the stress response will activate.
"It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey if you haven't felt it."
Three Ways to Manage
If you suffer then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from experts.
- Visualise Something Else: Creative thinking is essential. Work on connecting the triggering sound bothering you with an unrelated image. As an illustration, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. The goal is to help your brain learn that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Try a Competition: Use lightheartedness and turn the annoying sound into a game involving the source. For instance, if someone is eating noisily try copying the noise. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an active participant. And the competition element should help redirect your focus and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to invent a reason about why the person creating the sound is doing it. So if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not at their best or maybe they're upset. By doing this is altering the perception of the sound. Although the sound stays the same, your understanding of it shifts from being irritating, to feeling a bit more accepting about it.
