🔗 Share this article Yuletide Can Be a Nightmare for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity. With time, people develop strategies to cope with their condition. A 23-year-old hopes for seeing her family during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll cope is by wearing her hearing protection - especially during the holiday meal. For her, the holidays often feels like a notably tough period as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, slurping and sniffling trigger intense distress. "There's this feeling of sudden panic, my whole body will just tense up and it feels like I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to somehow control these noises." The individual has lived with misophonia from a young age and for her that causes the Christmas time "deeply taxing". Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, especially noises made by individuals. The condition is widespread across the population. A study reported nearly 20% people experience it. Often it's noises linked to eating or drinking that cause distress, along with things like chewing, breathing, and pen clicking. A Source of Dread She explains: "You encounter so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you fear it. "Those close to me are supportive, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to guarantee others enjoy themselves." So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous time of the year can transform into a stressful ordeal for sufferers. Sounds that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or enjoying festive food can cause a powerful reaction that can even lead to them skipping events entirely. Another individual is already thinking about ways to help her during the family meal. The student, a young adult, who has dealt with sound sensitivity since aged 10, explains her strategy is to use headphones to cope. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a separate space to escape distressing triggers. She says her condition is more pronounced around people she's most comfortable with, so Christmas is always "challenging". "There's an expectation to be around loved ones, and I desire to, but it's physically and mentally challenging. "It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel stressed and begin to weep and then the stress response will activate. "To others it appears as if I'm being oversensitive and dramatic, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it." Several Strategies to Cope If it's an issue then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, according to experts. Imagine Something Else: Creative thinking is key. Work on connecting the specific noise causing distress with something completely different. For instance, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. This technique is to help your brain learn that the sound affecting you is neutral. Make it a Game: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a competition involving the source. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly attempt joining in. By joining in, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an willing part. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected. Craft a Story: One more method is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is doing it. So if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not at their best or maybe they're upset. The idea is changing the meaning of the sound. Although the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it moves from being aggravating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate towards it.
With time, people develop strategies to cope with their condition. A 23-year-old hopes for seeing her family during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll cope is by wearing her hearing protection - especially during the holiday meal. For her, the holidays often feels like a notably tough period as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, slurping and sniffling trigger intense distress. "There's this feeling of sudden panic, my whole body will just tense up and it feels like I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to somehow control these noises." The individual has lived with misophonia from a young age and for her that causes the Christmas time "deeply taxing". Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, especially noises made by individuals. The condition is widespread across the population. A study reported nearly 20% people experience it. Often it's noises linked to eating or drinking that cause distress, along with things like chewing, breathing, and pen clicking. A Source of Dread She explains: "You encounter so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be stressful and make you fear it. "Those close to me are supportive, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to spoil the mood. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to guarantee others enjoy themselves." So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous time of the year can transform into a stressful ordeal for sufferers. Sounds that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or enjoying festive food can cause a powerful reaction that can even lead to them skipping events entirely. Another individual is already thinking about ways to help her during the family meal. The student, a young adult, who has dealt with sound sensitivity since aged 10, explains her strategy is to use headphones to cope. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a separate space to escape distressing triggers. She says her condition is more pronounced around people she's most comfortable with, so Christmas is always "challenging". "There's an expectation to be around loved ones, and I desire to, but it's physically and mentally challenging. "It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel stressed and begin to weep and then the stress response will activate. "To others it appears as if I'm being oversensitive and dramatic, but it's hard to explain if you haven't felt it." Several Strategies to Cope If it's an issue then there are some different techniques you can use to handle the situation, according to experts. Imagine Something Else: Creative thinking is key. Work on connecting the specific noise causing distress with something completely different. For instance, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. This technique is to help your brain learn that the sound affecting you is neutral. Make it a Game: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a competition involving the source. For instance, if someone is crunching loudly attempt joining in. By joining in, instead of feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an willing part. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected. Craft a Story: One more method is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is doing it. So if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not at their best or maybe they're upset. The idea is changing the meaning of the sound. Although the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it moves from being aggravating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate towards it.