🔗 Share this article The Holiday Season Transforms Into a Living Hell for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity. Through experience, sufferers develop strategies to handle their misophonia. Lottie hopes for spending time with her relatives during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll cope is by wearing her earplugs - particularly at the holiday meal. In her case, Christmas is a particularly difficult period as the sounds of other people chewing, sipping loudly and nose-blowing cause her extremely uncomfortable. "I experience this sensation of instant dread, my whole body will just tense up and it seems as if I'm in danger, and I need to manage these triggers." She has suffered from this condition from a young age and for her that makes the holiday period "incredibly overwhelming". Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to certain sounds, especially noises coming from those around you. It's surprisingly common amongst adults. A study reported almost one in five people are affected by it. Frequently it's noises connected to mouth, throat or facial movements that trigger a reaction, including examples such as chewing, breathing, and pen clicking. Triggering Stress The sufferer notes: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you want to avoid it. "Those close to me are supportive, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to upset others. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to ensure the event goes smoothly." So it's easy to understand why the most wonderful period can quickly turn into a source of agony for sufferers. Triggers that may seem harmless, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, opening presents, or eating the holiday meal can trigger a visceral feeling that can even cause them avoiding social settings altogether. Jenna is already thinking about strategies to help her during Christmas lunch. The student, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity since aged 10, states currently her plan is to put her earphones in to get through dinner. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to minimize triggering sounds. She notes her condition is worse around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "difficult". "There is pressure to socialize with family, and I want to, but it's exhausting on all levels. "I feel as if this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel panicked and immediately start crying and then fight-or-flight will take over. "To others it appears as if I'm being difficult and overreacting, but it's tough to describe unless you've experienced it." A Few Techniques to Handle It If you suffer then there are a few methods you can attempt to manage the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists. Imagine an Alternative: Mental imagery is key. Try to associate the specific noise bothering you with an unrelated image. As an illustration, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. This technique is to teach your brain that the sound triggering you is neutral. Use Humor: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a game with the culprit. For example, if someone is crunching loudly try copying the noise. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the competition element should help distract your brain and make you somewhat less sensitive. Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to create a little story about why the person creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not at their best or could be emotional. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. While the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
Through experience, sufferers develop strategies to handle their misophonia. Lottie hopes for spending time with her relatives during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll cope is by wearing her earplugs - particularly at the holiday meal. In her case, Christmas is a particularly difficult period as the sounds of other people chewing, sipping loudly and nose-blowing cause her extremely uncomfortable. "I experience this sensation of instant dread, my whole body will just tense up and it seems as if I'm in danger, and I need to manage these triggers." She has suffered from this condition from a young age and for her that makes the holiday period "incredibly overwhelming". Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to certain sounds, especially noises coming from those around you. It's surprisingly common amongst adults. A study reported almost one in five people are affected by it. Frequently it's noises connected to mouth, throat or facial movements that trigger a reaction, including examples such as chewing, breathing, and pen clicking. Triggering Stress The sufferer notes: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you want to avoid it. "Those close to me are supportive, but I'm very mindful that I don't want to upset others. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to ensure the event goes smoothly." So it's easy to understand why the most wonderful period can quickly turn into a source of agony for sufferers. Triggers that may seem harmless, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, opening presents, or eating the holiday meal can trigger a visceral feeling that can even cause them avoiding social settings altogether. Jenna is already thinking about strategies to help her during Christmas lunch. The student, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity since aged 10, states currently her plan is to put her earphones in to get through dinner. Usually, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to minimize triggering sounds. She notes her condition is worse around people she's most familiar with, so the holidays is always "difficult". "There is pressure to socialize with family, and I want to, but it's exhausting on all levels. "I feel as if this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel panicked and immediately start crying and then fight-or-flight will take over. "To others it appears as if I'm being difficult and overreacting, but it's tough to describe unless you've experienced it." A Few Techniques to Handle It If you suffer then there are a few methods you can attempt to manage the situation, based on advice from clinical psychologists. Imagine an Alternative: Mental imagery is key. Try to associate the specific noise bothering you with an unrelated image. As an illustration, try to picture someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. This technique is to teach your brain that the sound triggering you is neutral. Use Humor: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a game with the culprit. For example, if someone is crunching loudly try copying the noise. Through participation, instead of feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an engaged person. And the competition element should help distract your brain and make you somewhat less sensitive. Create a Scenario: Another technique is to try to create a little story about why the person creating the sound is behaving that way. For example if someone was sniffing, maybe they are not at their best or could be emotional. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. While the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.