The Holiday Season Transforms Into a Living Hell for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
One young woman is looking forward to seeing her relatives over the holidays, but says a primary method she'll manage to get through it is by wearing her earplugs - especially during the main festive feast.
For the 23-year-old, the holidays is a particularly difficult period as the noises of people eating, slurping and breathing heavily cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this feeling of sudden panic, my every muscle will just freeze and it seems as if I'm in danger, and I need to stop these noises."
The individual has suffered from misophonia from a young age and for her that makes the Christmas time "exceptionally stressful".
Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to particular auditory triggers, especially noises produced by those around you.
It is prevalent across the population. Experts discovered almost one in five people experience it.
Typically it's noises connected to eating or drinking that trigger a reaction, including examples such as chewing, heavy breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
A Source of Dread
She explains: "You encounter so many assorted problematic noises at Christmas and that can be daunting and make you dread it.
"Those close to me are aware, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to upset others. It's like a really big battle of sacrificing my own sanity to ensure everyone else is happy."
So it's obvious why the most wonderful season can rapidly become a living nightmare for sufferers.
Noises that may be considered normal, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can cause a strong emotional response that can even result in them avoiding social settings altogether.
She, a university student, who has struggled with sound sensitivity for over a decade, explains currently her plan is to put her earphones in to get through dinner. On any other day, she would often retreat in a different room to escape distressing triggers.
She says her sensitivity is more pronounced around people she's most comfortable with, so the holidays is always "challenging".
"There is pressure to spend time with loved ones, and I desire to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"It's like this sudden rage takes hold, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel stressed and burst into tears and then fight-or-flight will take over.
"It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and dramatic, but it's hard to explain unless you've experienced it."
Three Ways to Handle It
If it's an issue then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Visualise a Different Scenario: Creative thinking is crucial. Attempt to link the triggering sound bothering you with something completely different. For instance, try to picture someone's slurping is just a waterfall. This technique is to help your brain learn that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Use Humor: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a competition with the person. For example, if someone is crunching loudly have a go at joining in. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Develop a Narrative: A further strategy is to try to fabricate an explanation about the reason someone creating the sound is doing it. So if someone was making a nasal sound, perhaps they're not at their best or could be emotional. By doing this is altering the perception of the sound. Even though the noise remains identical, your reaction of it shifts from being irritating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.
