The Holiday Season Often Proves to Be a Terrifying Experience for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
A 23-year-old is looking forward to being with her loved ones over the holidays, but notes a primary method she'll cope is by wearing her hearing protection - especially during Christmas dinner.
For the 23-year-old, Christmas is a especially challenging season as the noises of family members munching, drinking noisily and sniffling cause her extremely uncomfortable.
"I experience this wave of immediate anxiety, my every muscle will just tense up and it seems as if I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to manage these noises."
Lottie has lived with this condition since she was 16 and for her that renders the holiday period "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is a decreased threshold to particular auditory triggers, especially noises made by those around you.
It's surprisingly common amongst adults. A study found almost one in five people suffer from it.
Typically it's sounds associated with eating or drinking that cause distress, including examples such as chewing, breathing, and foot tapping.
Triggering Stress
The sufferer notes: "You encounter so many different triggering sounds at the holidays and that can be stressful and make you fear it.
"My family are understanding, but I'm very aware that I don't want to upset others. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to ensure others enjoy themselves."
So it's obvious why the most wonderful period can transform into a living nightmare for sufferers.
Noises that may appear innocuous, like someone drinking champagne, opening presents, or enjoying festive food can provoke a strong emotional response that can even result in them skipping events entirely.
She, a young adult, who has dealt with sound sensitivity since aged 10, explains the approach she intends to use is to use headphones to manage the meal. On any other day, she would frequently go in a separate space to minimize problematic noises.
She explains her condition is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so Christmas is always "hard".
"There's an expectation to spend time with family, and I want to, but it's draining.
"I feel as if this uncontrollable anger washes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel stressed and immediately start crying and then fight-or-flight will kick in.
"It can come across as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey if you haven't felt it."
Three Ways to Manage
For those affected then there are various strategies you can attempt to manage the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists.
- Picture Something Else: Mental imagery is essential. Work on connecting the specific noise causing distress with an unrelated image. So for example, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. By doing this is to help your brain learn that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
- Make it a Game: Use lightheartedness and turn the annoying sound into a game involving the source. For instance, if someone is eating noisily try joining in. By mimicking, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an engaged person. And the competition element should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected.
- Develop a Narrative: Another technique is to try to create a little story about the reason someone creating the sound is having to make that sound. So if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not feeling well or could be emotional. By doing this is changing the meaning of the sound. Even though the sound doesn't change, your interpretation of it shifts from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
