Does the Sound of People Chewing Drive You Into a Rage? It’s Really a Thing and No I Didn’t Make it Up! [4 Tips for Dealing With Misophonia]

chewbook

ย Don’t let the smiling kids throw you off. This is really a horror story.ย 

Sip. Slurp. Chomp. Smack. Gulp. If listening to someone chew their food makes you want to either smack their lips off or chew your own ears off to make the noise stop, know that you are not alone. And not only do you have plenty of company but you have some pretty famous company thanks to perky talk show host Kelly Ripa’s recent admission that even the sound of someone chewing gum can enrage her. As a highly sensitive person myself who has spent an inordinate amount of time digging my nails into my legs to keep from going all Alec Baldwin on my kids when they eat a popsicle, when I first heard about this I was like, “Yesssssss, another crazy box I get to tick off! I’m totally going to shoot the moon with this mental health shiz! I win!!”

This sensitivity, called Misophonia, literally means hatred of ordinary sounds. ย According to the DSM people who have misophonia are most commonly angered, and even enraged, by common ambient sounds, such as other people clipping their nails, brushing teeth, eating, breathing, sniffing, talking, sneezing, yawning, walking, chewing gum, laughing, snoring, typing on a keyboard, whistling or coughing; certain consonants; or repetitive sounds.ย Some are also affected by visual stimuli, such as repetitive foot or body movements, fidgeting, or movement they observe out of the corners of their eyes. Intense anxiety and avoidant behavior may develop, which can lead to decreased socialization.

Misophonia isn’t limited to just eating noises, although those seem to be the most common triggers. Some people are enraged by noises like pets licking themselves or finger tapping. There’s also thought to be a strong genetic component and a link to tinnitus (a.k.a. ringing in the ears) so there’s clearly more going on that people being “too sensitive” and why it doesn’t work to tell people to “just get over it.”

I’m going to guess that listening to other people chew – especially chew noisily – isn’t on the top of anyone’s favorite list. There’s a reason moms have been chastising their kids about chewing with their mouth open or talking with their mouth full since the dawn of time. (Little known fact: Eve didn’t hate apples because they got her kicked out of the garden, she hated apples because if she had to listen to Adam chomp his way through another one she was going to throw one at his head. It’s like totally in the Bible.) But while most people are merely irritated by people who chew their gum like camels (CAMELS, I tell you!), it sends some people into a blind rage. Ripa admits to screaming and having to leave the room while people are eating. For some sufferers, it is so overwhelming that they isolate themselves from others and may have depression or even suicidal thoughts as a result.

Well, hmpf. My version isn’t the worst case scenario for once. While I do know that feeling of being absolutely filled with rage over the noise of people chewing or burping, it’s never made me do anything worse than make some snotty comments and/or leave the room. (Okay, and that one miserable car trip where I harangued my husband for clearing his throat every five seconds. That was a long drive. I’m sorry, honey.) Well good on me?

Whether or not it’s the worst possible manifestation, I’ve still had to learn to manage it. Thankfully I’ve always managed to remember in the moment that it’s not socially acceptable to mow people down just for irritating me, like some despotic tyrant. (Thankfully.) But I do have a few tricks that help me. (And I hope that you guys will chime in with your tips too!)

1. Background noise. Listening to someone chew in a silent room is t-o-r-t-u-r-e. With four kids, our dinners are usually nonstop chatter but if one of my kids is, say, having a snack, I often have NPR on low volume on the radio. My mind usually focuses on the talking instead of the chewing.

2. White noise. Some people like to turn on fans or noise machines but those things are insanely irritating to me too. For some reason though running the dishwasher or the washing machine is all good. I do that often. Plus I get my laundry done. (Not folded, mind you, just washed. The folding happens so rarely that every time I do it, my kids get all excited because they think my in-laws are coming.)

3. Chewing. It sounds counterintuitive but it also helps Kelly Ripa so, you know, one example is an anecdote but two is hard science. That’s in the Bible too. Anyhow, if I’m eating with people then I don’t generally hear their chewing noises and all is good. Kelly explains that’s how she gets through her on-air food segments – the noise is generally drowned out by clapping or talking or she’s chewing too.

4. Learning to feel uncomfortable. Yeah, sometimes you can’t block it out and you can’t run away from it. Like having dinner in a quiet restaurant with a previous boss. And in those cases all I can do is simply acknowledge that a) it bothers me and b) it won’t kill me. It’s not ideal but I can sit politely and quietly while listening to someone chew. (Although it’s often hard for me to focus on what they’re saying.) It takes practice feeling uncomfortable and feeling safe and in control at the same time. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (retraining your automatic responses to the trigger) and Exposure Response Prevention (getting used to being in the presence of the trigger) are both immensely helpful and can work pretty quickly.

Anyone else get super duper irritated or enraged by certain noises?? Please share your pet peeve and how you’ve learned to deal with it!

*I should note that like I pointed out above, I don’t seem to have it as bad as some. My misophonia seems relatively mild. Also, most scientists agree that while you can learn to ameliorate it, there is no known “cure” for it. I’m not a doctor and my advice should not be taken as medical advice, yada, yada, yada.

 

271 Comments

  1. You always crack me up, Charlotte. I had no idea there was such an issue – I imagine it would be a relative of OCD? Regardless, hang in there, and should we ever meet, I’ll be sure not to chew…or scratch an itch…or slurp soup. ๐Ÿ˜‰

    • Chewing drives me crazy I fight with my Gf over it. That and the sound you make trying to suck something out of your teeth with tongue. Insane. I’m so annoyed to the point if I’m alone quietly eating myself and I hear myself chewing slurping I get angry at my self hahahah its crazy but what are you going to do. Just deal

      • Lmfao im the same way. ..

      • Lmfao im the same way.

      • “quietly eating myself.”………………….BRAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA

      • Jeff that is too funny, I am the same way. Bananas are particularly problematic for me.

      • SAME! omg.. my dad does it the worst -.- and I fight about it with him all the time… Like he randomly just smacks his teeth and what not… and i just automatically think like he must’ve had something to eat, because I know he’s enjoying it -____-…
        like idk why I feel the way I feel towards noises like that .-…. and he gets mad at me for saying something about it? -.- I don’t even like it when I make those noises..

    • I hate hate hate the sound of someone biting apopsicle. Especially the kind that freeze in the plastic packs and u have to cut off the top. O can’t even eat them. I have to smoosh them up first to eat them. The sound of someone biting ice I hate too! Ugh I’m cringing just thinking about it.

    • OH MY GOD. My mom always chews WHILE TALKING and it makes this DISGUSTING NOISE THAT MAKES ME WANT TO RIP HER TEETH OUUUUUUTTTTTT. as you can see thinking about it makes me angry. So when she’s chewing (usually not pleasantly) I try to calm myself down before i dig my nails too far into my skin. I’m actually really glad this has a name- I thought I was just a grumpy person.

      • I so agree with you @tess I am in the SAME EXACT CASE so if you ever see me @ the dinner table its usaly looks like I’m about to explode

      • Haha yess ! sameeeee!! I thought I was just depressing.. or grumpy cause of my brain surgery!

    • I think calling it a disease is way of letting the huge slide in teaching manners in our society off the hook. Eating like a dog smacking and slurping and chomping with your mouth open is impolite. Teach your children or they will be immediately repelled from civil society. That is a fact. Creating equality is great, but there will always be a socio-economic gap, and when you don’t learn the rules of the upper-class, you will constantly be pushed back down into the lower class.

      • I couldn’t agree more. If everyone were more polite, I would be less crazy.

        • I understand what you are saying about the manners. People should be taught manners, but this is different. Even when people are chewing properly with their moths closed and using manners it still angers me. I am generally a very laid back, easy going person who gets a long with everyone and goes out of my way to please people. But this one time right after I got married I yelled at my in-laws “can’t you people chew quietly”. The results were my husband very mad, my in-laws in shock and me very embarrassed. I having been dealing with this for years.I am happy to know it is real disorder and I am not alone. That being said, I do feel like it should not become an excuse for people to just fly off the handle when they want to because they have this disorder. You should learn to deal with it.

          • I also agree that people should learn to eat and act with the correct set of manners but I too get very tense and irritated at the sound of people chewing even with their mouths closed even though im a very relaxed person I am glad that its an actual thing tho and not just me bein moody also get irritated at the sound of someone washing fabric with a sponge but I think that is just me being weird hahaha

          • I do deal with it on a certain level because I have to but people should be taught basic manners, one of the main ones being to eat quietly.

      • I agree people should be more polite! But unfortunately I don’t believe it would stop my frustration! Even when people are chewing politely I CANNOT STAND IT. I woke up (from a legitimate sleep!) because my roommate was chewing once and she chews with her mouth closed. I’ve also woken myself up snoring when I was sick, and I literally can’t sleep if any of those kinds of noises are going on! ๐Ÿ˜› Thank you Charlotte and Kelly and all these commenters for reminding me I’m not a weirdo in this! ๐Ÿ˜€

      • I agree that people should learn proper eating habits. However, I don’t think the public should just dismiss a condition that has obviously been studied and researched enough to be deemed a disorder (although it is not included in the DSM-5).
        In defining “proper” eating habits we do have to specify that we are talking about what has been determined by middle and above-class white Americans. This would include eating with mouth closed, keeping the unused hand off the table, no elbows on table, napkin in lap, utensils placed in specific spots around the plate, drinking glass to top right of plate, etc. This has now been accepted by all (or most) who live in the U.S. and consider themselves middle-class or above. Some of these are relaxed based on whether you’re at home among family or at a formal dinner. As for me, I say at the very least keep your friggin mouth shut while eating. I don’t become enraged at common ambient sounds, as this disorder indicates, but it is a huge pet peeve for folks to smack like a camel when eating.

      • My mom chews with her mouth shut and doesn’t usually talk with her mouth full. But even with her mouth closed completely she still manages to be loud as $%^* and religiously slurps her damn coffee while on the phone with me. My fiance and I have nicknamed her slurpy. I get so angry that I want to explode, but I just try to laugh it off because she does say she’s sorry lol

    • This is amazing! I thought I had some sort of psychological disorder, but I guess I don’t. Awesome! Ever since I can remember, I get a sudden flush of rage when someone chews with their mouth open. I’ve nearly gotten into fights for telling someone to chew with their mouth closed. It’s like an instant primal reaction, the sound drives me insane. I nearly gave up my seat on the ferry today because some guy sat next to me and started ‘slurping’ his granola bar. I decided to google the phychology behind it, and found your post. At least I know that this aspect of my personality doesn’t categorize me as insane! ๐Ÿ˜‰

      • No, actually you *do* have a disorder, as explained by this page… But it’s okay so do I. I think it stems from being able to hear everything all at once.

        Ex: I have trouble hearing someone talking right in front of me in a noisy room, but I don’t have “bad hearing.” It’s just that I hear everything else in the room, glasses clanking, people conversing, echoes, doors opening and closing. I think it’s taking in all these sounds simultaneously that has driven those like ourselves mad… Just a theory.

    • NPR saves my family daily.

    • Just googled this as I’m sitting with my granddaughters having an after school snack, because it drives me absolutely nuts to hear ANYONE chewing!! It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard! Yes, even my precious grandkids or my husband. I usually turn the TV on low to drown it out.

    • OMG! Yes I have finally found my tribe. We can clearly all be violently irritated together. Love this! My dad’s chewing was the worst and he loves to speak with his moth full๐Ÿ˜ต I also relate to getting frustrated with myself when I’m alone eating quietly…..or NOT and I hear myself chew ๐Ÿ˜’ so much so that I will stop eating and put the food up…..obviously something or someone has triggered me and I pick my own self and actions/behaviors to punish…

  2. THIS IS SO ME! I get so fired up when I have to listen to people chew. I can’t watch TV with my husband if he’s eating a snack. I pick up and leave the room. If I’m sitting by someone in a social gathering and they’re chewing I get up and move. I hate it so much. So much. It wasn’t until Kelly Rippa talked about her problem that I realized it wasn’t normal. Usually I go with the chewing method. I love to eat anyway, so I am always up for a snack. There have been times I’ve carried around gum just so that if I had to listen to someone chew I had something to chew on too.

    I’m with you on the white noise thing too. I can’t fall asleep if I can hear a busy street, or a fan, or any hotel room air conditioners, but I have no problem with the washing machine and dryer.

  3. Oh yes. Oh so very yes. Other people eating, especially when I’m not eating myself, can be _really_ irritating. Also finger-tapping, throat-clearing, sniffling… I wish I had tips to share, but I just grin and bear it or, if I can, leave the room. I’m glad you wrote about it, though – it makes me feel slightly less guilty about the murderous thoughts (and, unfortunately, looks) that I tend to direct at the unwitting source…

  4. My husband BREATHES so loud! It drives me crazy! It’s not just when he’s sleeping either!

    • It might help to try to remember that the sound of his breathing is a continual sign that he’s alive and well. The breath is widely used in meditation as a focal point, because it’s always present with us. So maybe instead of letting it annoy you, train your mind to rejoice in the sound. Also, give meditation a try. It’s definitely good for training your mind to be less reactive and more peaceful. I hope that helps.

    • Valerie Mazzanti

      I have to watch tv in a different room bc my husband breathes sooooooo loud it distracts me and I can’t focus on the show. He picks his fingers andmakes lots of noises while eating. I don’t know how to deal with it all. I am SOOOOOO STRESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      • You should hear my husband sucking on a candy. It can drive me crazy!!!!!! He wants to pick the food from his back teeth with his finger… And is the noisiest when eating chips or anything crunchy. Its driving me nuts. I hate him.

  5. I can put a label on my issues?! I can’t stand to listen to one family member eat. They sound like a pig at a trough. I grit my teeth at meal times. Also, It drives me crazy to hear my dogs licking their fur, it’s like nails going over a chalkboard…and that doesn’t bother me as much as the licking noise. I literally shake at this sound and yell at the dogs to stop.

    • Me too! I dont seem to be bothered by the noises people usually are annoyed by like scratching a chalkbord and things like that but people chewing loudly makes me want to explode! Every time someone is eating a snack next to me (meals dont bother me) I have to go into my bedroom and try not to scream.

  6. Snoring! And I am so glad to hear this is a real thing, because I am normally a very laid back, easy going kind of person, but the sound of my husband snoring can make me start thinking violent thoughts. I’d never act on them, but it bothers me that I even think like that.

    I actually do have tinnitus and I’m up to about a 60% hearing loss. I wear ear plugs so I can sleep at night, but my Husband is one of those people who can sit down in a chair and immediately nod off, and when he does that he snores. Loudly. I’ve tried to explain how it sets my teeth on edge, but he just shakes his head at me. I will usually end up leaving the room, or I take out my hearing aids – I can still hear it, but it’s no where near as loud.

  7. Oh well thanks for writing about this! I never thought this problem is categorized or classified!

    I personally do suffer a lot when it comes to eating with people, I sometimes cannot eat and leave, it’s too much for me to handle, or just eat as fast as possible and leave the table.

    Other noises irritate me a lot like whistling, sniffing sometimes, teeth brushing, or even exaggerated smoke puffing, haha and most of all is when people eat soup, or sip hot drinks noisily.

    But here is what I learned to do, it is always worse when there are less people on the table, the more the better, because people talk and eat and move plates and laugh; you no longer hear them chewing. In case of less people on the table, I turn some music on, I cannot eat in silence with people.

    I avoid being around individual eating things like apples, pop corn, water melon, or those who chew gum like animals, I just walk away, and i would sometimes say things like eat like a human, won’t you? I don’t mind sometimes throwing some comments. But generally speaking it’s us who suffer and they don’t understand, so for me best is to avoid avoid and avoid!

    Thanks I did find this topic very interesting!

  8. Oh my goodness, I totally get SO annoyed with any mouth noises- slurping and gulping are my biggest! Everyone thinks I am crazy, here’s the proof I am not! (Well, not entirely anyway ๐Ÿ™‚ I am sharing this with everyone who said I was batty ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks for an informative post!

    • I totally understand wht your going through. Hearing someone chew or slurp there drinks drives me crazy . Makes me wanna pull my hair out . And someone eating potato chips is a killer, i have to leave the room, i can not take it. lol smh @tiny N fit

    • I know you don’t know me but I feel the same way and I thought I was alone and my parents don’t support me when I can’t stand when people eat and they always grounded me when I complain and when I close my ears my dad always send me to my room and grounded me. When I reading this it makes lot happier because I know I’m not alone

      • I’m sorry to hear that your parents are abusive, irrational ignoramuses. As soon as you can support yourself you’d do well to leave their household entirely and cut ties before they can damage you even more. You never chose them as parents and their treatment of you is pure unbridled cowardice.

  9. I totally have this! Particularly with other people chewing gum (maybe that’s why I chew gum so often, to drown it out). But also with finger tapping or singing under their breath, and there have been some challenging days at work with people listening to their music and tapping to the beat.

    Eating at meals doesn’t bother me, just chewing gum. Maybe I have selective misophonia?

    I’m actually the opposite, Charlotte, with fans. I have to have a fan (or AC) on at night in order to sleep, because it’s other ambient noises that bother me and the fan drowns them out. But I absolutely can’t stand the feeling of a fan blowing on me.

  10. Well, I never really was annoyed by sounds and stuff, but I hated it when people talked loud on the bus. So yeah, it never really bothered me, is this normal? I must have been irritating, because I used eat/ chew food out loud. Now I that notice ,when I had my friends around they would tell me that they could hear me chewing. Haha they probably wanted to rip my head off.

  11. Thanks you! Chewing doesn’t bother me but that squeaky sound of windshield wipers? Oh god. I (recently actually) got in a fight with my husband because I started yelling at him to turn off the wipers and he thought I’d lost my mind. Also yeah, the whole throat clearing. And coughing too. A lot of repetitive sounds in general. I don’t think I’m fully a HSP but I border it and I’m particularly noise sensitive. I rarely listen to music since I often find it overwhelming. Interesting that it has a genetic link, my mom tends to be sensitive to noises and my dad has tinnitus.

  12. OK, I’m just gonna say it: MY mom chews like a cow, and it drives me nuts!!!!!!! (Sorry, Mom!) We live on opposite coasts, but she comes out to visit 3 times a year and I dread mealtimes, lol!

    After I’d lived in Manhattan for 5 years I got to the point where I either had to move or I was going to commit mass murder. Constant noise: construction, the subway, car alarms, and always, ALWAYS, CAR HORNS!!!!!!! Plus, living directly above the very popular Union Square Cafe didn’t help… Just in the nick of time I got a job in western Massachusetts, which is the polar opposite of NYC. (I went out for a walk one afternoon, heard a rustling in the bushes and prepared to fend off my would-be attacker when a cow ambled out.)

    Now we live in a quiet suburb. We have easy access to San Francisco, but we don’t live in the thick of things. And while I sometimes fantasize about living IN the city, that fantasy always includes a quiet neighborhood. ๐Ÿ™‚

  13. This explains a lot. My poor brother–when we were kids, I used to yell at him for breathing too loud (I also used to try to sell him to random strangers–surprisingly, as adults we’re good friends). My mom could never understand why I was so bothered by ordinary sounds, but little things (the sound of kids colouring with felt markers on paper) really bugged my dad. I find that it’s worse when I’m tired or stressed out–sometimes I can’t eve listen to music. I’m lucky to share an office with the quietest woman I’ve ever known. She has no fidgets or twitches and she rarely speaks. Both book editors, we work together in companionable silence and it’s great.

  14. I ordered the book “highly sensitive child” after reading your experience with being a HS adult. My son has so many of the symptoms it’s unbelievable. I find myself nodding in agreement when I read…and then feeling guilt for how I have parented these past 10 years ๐Ÿ™ I did learn a few strategies on my own but it would have been so nice to learn them quicker from the book instead of trial and error! Chewing doesn’t bother my son and he is usually the one making sounds that drive me insane! Thanks for being so honest on your blog!

  15. Well, who knew?! I thought it was just me being cranky!!! I don’t know that the sound enrages me but it does irritate me a LOT!!! And, the worst is when my boys are chewing and they want to look over my shoulder at something so then they are chewing right in my ear (usually before they have brushed their teeth for the day, too!!) – true problems!!!

  16. Mouth noises in general bother me. A lot. I had to take a biology final in high school one year when the choir was selling suckers to fund their trip to wherever. My teacher actually OK’d the kids to slurp their suckers while taking the test and I had to leave the room. Also, the sound of coffee or water, whatever, being poured into a glass. Yes, THAT sound. I don’t know why? There was one soda commercial on the radio for a while that featured that sound prominently and I would have to turn it off every time. It literally makes me shiver with disgust.

    • Oooo! Oo. Also, when someone says the word “panties”. I can read it fine, but I hate hearing it.

      • Lol!! I thought I was the only one!!! I also hate the sound of someone smacking their lips. My FIL (God rest his soul) used to wear dentures and they were uncomfortable so he never wore them at home. He INSISTED on gumming peanut butter sandwiches while he watched TV. I HAD TO LEAVE THE HOUSE TO AVOID KILLING HIM WITH MY BARE HANDS.

      • OMG, me too,..

      • Lol yes I hate that word being said too!!

    • I also hate the sound of someone pouring water in a glass or a cup. I don’t know why either. The sound of someone chewing nuts or chips is also the worst for me. I also hate some kinds of heavy breathings. There was this girl at work, couldn’t stand the sound she was doing when swallowing a mouthful of water during a meeting.

      It’s not a dicease if so many people think the same way.

  17. Hi Charlotte. Miss you. And I’ve never commented on a blog but this is SO ME!!! I have been this way since I was little. And I get so angry and filled with rage, it causes my “Sybil” to come out and I say things I should not say to people I call family and friends. But I can’t help it. After I heard Kelly talk about it on her show, I felt SO relieved that someone else felt this way that hit the record button to show my husband. See??? I’m not crazy. This is a REAL THING. Having this problem really gets in the way of having fun…gum snappers, loud chewers, pen on/off clicking, the “buzz” from fluorescent lighting…you name it. It makes me heated just thinking about it! All my senses are on high alert, but this one takes first place. Boy, I wish I could run into you after turbo…we could talk our fool heads off about this one!!

  18. I started to notice this with my soon to be ex husband, and then when I had to listen to other people chew noisy things like carrots, and now when my mother eats – it’s kind of a combination of what she’s eating and the way she eats – I literally feel like raging. I don’t, I restrain myself, and sometimes put the TV on or my earbuds with really loud white noise, but I try very hard not to leave, for instance, a bag of carrots on the counter, because if I do, I curse myself when I have to listen to her chew for ages. The funny thing is that when my dog eats, I don’t feel anything negative at all.

    I have a suspicion that it’s related to neuroticism, as I’m pretty high on that scale, and is one more reason why neuroticism sucks.

  19. Sound-Rage. A Primer of the Neurobiology and Psychology of a Little Known Anger Disorder (Chalcedony Press, 210 pgs) has just been published and is available from amazon.com.

    The book provides compelling evidence that it is a developmental, neurological disorder, and presents detailed information on the brain regions implicated in the disorder, particularly the insular cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex. Other important areas of research discuss how the brainโ€™s โ€œhard-wiredโ€ circuitry interprets stimuli as pain and affects behavior and emotions; how processing of visual and auditory stimuli overlap in the brain and result in creating new triggers; and how the brain uses mimicry to induce empathy and reduce the distress caused by triggers.

    It presents a current state of knowledge to the public and provides another voice for hope, courage, and resilience. I hope this helps.

  20. All these years, I honestly thought it was just me. I can’t stand the sound of people chewing. Especially crunchy things, like potato chips.

  21. And here I thought I was the only one, never mind the fact that there’s a name for it, haha. I don’t and have never had a problem with any other kind of noise except that of people chewing. The worst of all is that my mom was one of them that chewed really loudly. Night time supper was absolute torture for me but you learn to deal with these things.

  22. I too am uber sensitive to audible stimuli. Less so, with visual annoyances. I get insanely enraged (violent thoughts and everything). Voice tonalities (nasal, scratchy, etc.), stutters (I know that makes me mean :(), snoring!!! (It would be a relationship dealbreaker, can’t stand to hear it from another room WITH earplugs let alone sleep next to it!), humming , whistling, licking lips, chewing on facial hair, blackberry texting, phone conversations…

    I’ve gotten increasingly worse over the years. Had no idea it was a thing. :/

    My fix? Really good sound isolating headphones. I “tune out” when things get to crazy at work and during my several hour commute. I play music over dinner , I look away at the annoying behaviour and finally, I do isolate myself sometimes just for some peace and quiet. Solo car time is bliss (and a quality car, not one that let’s in all the road noise either ;))

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  25. Glad to know there is a name for it! The sounds of coughing, sniffling and loud chewing drives me insane! I can handle nails on the chalk board, but listing to someone cough? *Shudder*

    It makes me feel a little better knowing I’m not the only one, though!

  26. Judith T Krauthamer

    A new book has been published summer 2013. Itโ€™s called, Sound-Rage. A Primer of the Neurobiology and Psychology of a Little Known Anger Disorder (Chalcedony Press, 210 pgs) and is available from amazon.com.uk and amazon.com.

    The book provides compelling evidence that โ€œmisophoniaโ€ is a developmental, neurological disorder, and presents detailed information about trigger expansion, emotions, cognitions and therapies.

    In Section I, Symptoms, Stories, Diagnoses, it describes the lives of sufferers as they confront triggers throughout the day. Section II, Neurobiology, presents an overview of how the brain processes information, specifically the triggers. There is an in-depth look at brain circuitry and multi-sensory processing. This section seeks to explain from a neurological, sensory perspective how triggers expand, from one or two auditory triggers to many auditory, visual, and olfactory triggers. The thoughts and associations that accompany the anger and pain are addressed in Section III, Emotions, Cognitions, and Therapies.

    The book explains how the brainโ€™s โ€œhard-wiredโ€ circuitry interprets stimuli as pain and affects behavior and emotions; how processing of visual and auditory stimuli overlap in the brain and result in creating new triggers; and how the brain uses mimicry to induce empathy and reduce the distress caused by triggers. The book also discusses why the disorder is routinely misdiagnosed and how it is unique among all disorders. It also addresses why exposure therapy that is used with OCD worsens the symptoms while cognitive behavior therapy (sometimes in conjunction with exposure) is highly effective in reducing them.

    I hope this helps.

    • I have been dealing with this for half my life, at 56 thats a long time. And it seems to be getting worse. I can’t stand so many noises. Eating, drinking, forks/spoons clicking on plates, crunchy food, nose sniffles, annoying clearing of throat, drinking, slurping, sneezing, can’t stand to hear my husbands breathing threw his nose. There are soooo many irritants I just want to scream, and fhe odd thing now is I can feel some of the noises like a shock or jolt if they are loud . I get to where I can’t handle being in the same room with some people. Putting ice in a glass sounds like dropping bombs, I feel it. Sounds crazy I know. I use ear buds and music at night so I don’t have to hear Joe breathing. Last night at dinner he was picking up corn one kernal at a time with his cork, I sat there looking at him and thought to myself ” if my daughter was not settimg here I would stab him in the eye”, I had to leave the room. The only solution for me is solitude. No kids, men or dogs,

  27. I was wondering if you ever considered changing the page layout of your website?
    Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
    But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better.
    Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images.
    Maybe you could space it out better?

  28. My stepdaughter complains of having this disorder, but it only affects her if its her mother, no one else. My wife doesn’t chew abnormally loud or anything like that, in fact I am noisier than her but nothing is ever mentioned to me and kiddo can sit right beside me without issue. Funny but while the condition is no doubt real, I suspect the issue in our house is a teen/young adult using it as an excuse to be miserable, as kids do sometImes.

    • The way you think it makes sense but it may be true or not. I also suffer from this, have been suffering since I was 12-13 and peaked around 21-23. For the me it is not the sound but what they are eating and how they are eating. let me explain, when my father eats banana I can hear his teeth hitting each other at the end of the bite. I have constantly remind him it is a banana and you dont have to bite that hard. At the same time I can sit with my brother and eat, even when he is eating apple and chips. It bothers me but I don’t go hulk on him. I am ok with my mom eating but I can’t stand her drinking mostly water, She takes water in her throat and takes a long time to gulp it. I have my own ticks and they change. just FYI.
      Only thing that helped me tackling the issue is other person acknowledging that it ticks me off, That’s it they don’t have to change the way they eat. Just saying, “ohhh, is it so’. my last thought, GOD this is not funny. Why give me such a stupid OCD.why why

  29. stop being annoying

    Another thing that drives me nuts is people who think it’s “cute” to misquote the Bible. Like YOU.

  30. I have this to. Repeated sniffing chewing sneezing coughing or grunting and someone talking to much triggers it. I try to control it though and I’m getting better

  31. I have a habit of tapping on tables or tapping my feet.

  32. well thank god I’m not alone! I am not that old, thirteen actually, and I get annoyed over many things such as, chewing, sniffing loudly, snoring, turning of the paper, paper moving against each other… and the list goes on. As someone earlier said, THIS IS PROOF I AIN’T CRAZY!!! TAKE THAT!!!! I still haven’t found a way to stop those horrible noises, but revenge is mine..*crazy mad laughter *

  33. I have been such an ass.

    Seriously. I have been an ass. For years Iโ€™ve been convinced that my family ate like barn yard champions. Yes, Iโ€™ve even told them such.

    Yet it turns out the individual with the problem isnโ€™t the incessant chompers in the room next door. Thanks to this post, I now โ€“ thankfully โ€“ know itโ€™s me.

    That helps because I can quit haranguing my poor family for their perfectly normal, completely reasonable, and utterly maddening eating habits. I can quit telling my daughters to close their lips on the dreaded piece of popcorn or fluorescent-colored Dorito before they crunch down with their teeth, sending shock waves through my spine. I can stop giving nasty looks to my wife as she sucks on that g*d damned Jolly Rancher. I can rationalize away the pure agony of closed-mouth mastication that wouldnโ€™t register on most decibel meters but, in my ears, is louder than Trent Reznor at a Nine Inch Nails concert.

    Yet rationalize all you want, when my daughter softly and beautifully hums along, in tune, to a nice tune, headphones sequestering the rhythm and guitars in her head, I still want to destroy her mp3 player with the nearest sledge hammer. While I will no longer grouchily tell my younger daughter to quit innocently whistling as she toils over her homework, I am fooling myself if I pretend every note doesnโ€™t drive a screw into my spine. I might even avoid cringing when my loved ones cough. Maybe. Maybe not.

    Oh, and the restless legs, bobbing up and down to the beat of some unheard drummer, pant legs softly rubbing together with each jerk. Yet as cruel the restless legs are, they are infinitely better than someone sitting closeโ€ฆscratching itchy skin. Scratch. Scratch. Scratch. How can fingernails on human flesh be so LOUD?!?! Look, you may have inflamed, flesh-eating, rotting skin that punishes your nerve endings mercilessly, begging you to scratch for some tiny bit of relief, but for Godโ€™s sake, have some decency and do it when the television is so loud the scratching canโ€™t be heard over the speaker hiss.

    Misophonia. Now that I know what you are, I have no illusions that the noises will go away, but at least I can put them in a box, with a label that says, โ€œThis problem isnโ€™t them โ€“ the ones driving you crazy โ€“ this is my issue to deal with, as best I can.โ€ It may not make it any more pleasant to handle, but at least I can make it a lot easier on the ones I love. That is, as soon as they put the Grape Nuts down and back away from the spoon.

  34. Hey buddy…happy to see you finally diagnosed yourself! However, I will only back away from the Grape Nuts after you quite snoring!! Ha ha ha! Love you! ๐Ÿ™‚

  35. My mom had this and so do I. It is torture. I get so angry, especially with my roommate, my dad, and my boyfriend. I have screamed at peope, imitated them trying to illustrate how they sound to me, worn earplugs, used white noise, and anger management, I’ve hit/pinched/bitten myself and even once faked a seizure to make the sound stop. I have taken to referring to it as my insanity and ask people to please understand that my irritability is not their fault but if they can pleeeeaaaaaase try to minimize eating/chewing/swallowing/sniffing around me – particularly when it’s quiet – we will all be happier.

    I am also a very anxious person. Female. Nurse…You can imagine the sounds I endure all day.

  36. I am so happy to hear that others suffer from this too! For my entire childhood my family and friends thought I was CRAZY! To be honest, I felt crazy but this has never been something I could stop or even come close to controlling. People who are closest to me seem to bother me the most (so sad) with chewing, moving their foot back and forth, tapping their fingers, sniffling, and now even breathing gets to me. I wish there was something that could be done about this. I feel terrible when I have to let the other person know they are bothering me with something they are doing but I CAN’T HELP IT : (

  37. I have a weird one, I’m okay with people whispering except my mom. Wgendver I hear her whisper it really does drive me insane, I get so angry and want to tell her to shut up but I don’t. Instead I sit through it and cry from anger. I really do cry.

  38. People kissing noisily on TV or in the movies. Cannot. Stand. It.

  39. It’s just not me! I can’t stand chomping, slurping, smacking, licking fingers, chewing and popping gum and the worst : popcorn and nacho crunching in my ear at the movies! I also can’t take my cat grooming himself – I don’t know how this is related but the sound of a plastic utensil scraping against styrofoam will send me over the edge!

  40. There is a sound I love, though: in old movies/TV shows, the crinkle-crackle of a letter being snapped open or the the frantic rustle of newspaper pages as someone looks for important news. Go figure.

  41. To be honest there are a lot of irritating arse holes out there that can think of nothing better to do than make noises like they are fucking chimps at a tea party. No class no manners and no fucking brains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  42. And i TOTALLY agree with the kissing noise on tv….like wtf!!!!! I have never made that weird noises in my life and tbh if i was with some freak that did i would die shaking my head in disbelief…..

  43. Yeah, chewing gets to me, crunching leaves (like when someone is walking on dry leaves), and my dog licking himself. I especially hate when those commercials or movies enhance the chewing and chomping and slurping noises. I literally have to restrain myself from punching someone (that’s not an exaggeration). In almost every case, I have to leave the room. When I’m in a restaurant, if there’s no noise to drown the sound out, I suffer in silence, or I have to say something. I have yelled at my sister and my brother-in-law is autistic, so I have to walk out when he’s eating. I yell at my dog every time he starts licking himself. I need ways to cope lol.

  44. My son has been hypersensitive to chewing noises since he was around 8. This has evolved over the last 6 years into chewing and any noises that finger nails make, either clipping them, scratching, whatever. We were in the car last week dropping him off to school and on the way we grabbed a bagel. He told me that he felt like a real jerk – but would it be okay if I waited to eat my bagel until he was out of the car? That’s how bad it is. I sure hope we can get him some relief!

  45. Eating noises pretty much make me flip out. My family is terrible about eating loud, and none of them seem to understand why it bothers me. Family members with call me up while they are chewing on ice or gum, or even just while smacking on a meal. Once when my nephew was visiting, he woke up early, went downstairs, and starting eating some chips. I was asleep upstairs with my door closed. The crunching and smacking was so loud that it woke me up and I went into a rage fit. I usually have trouble waking up to my alarm, but somehow my brain is hard-wired to wake up when I hear chewing noises. The same thing happens on road trips. I can sleep through traffic and radio sounds, but when someone starts smacking on food or candy it shoots right through me and wakes me up.

  46. The sound/visual of anyone licking their fingers… Makes me want to go on a rampage

  47. people chewing, breathing, moisture sound in their voice, clicking on phones keyboard, repetive things, anything like that completely enrages me to the point where i do isolate myself somtimes or lash out if i have to. i try to avoid it but alot of times i cant help but freak out. another thing is i hate pointlessly talking on the phone or even in person to some people, im mean somtimes to the nicest and most helpful people in my life in these situations i even apologize in the moment but in an angry manor telling them i just cant help it theres nothing i can to stop the anger. even dogs or cats licking or eating drives me insane. im pretty quit to snap about alot of things in a way but i think this might be the root of it. im yelling at my dog right now for barley making noises with his mouth. i have no control over this i cant stand it i need help but dont know if there is anything that can

  48. Thanks so much for this! I thought I was going crazy getting enraged listening to my family chew and swallow. It’s been like this for a couple of years but I’ve noticed it getting worse in the past few months and also I seem more jumpy at sudden noises. My son is at a clumsy stage and seems to always be dropping things. It just about drives me off the deep end when the remote control hits the floor AGAIN.

  49. Oh post! Where have you been all my life? The sound of my son drinking and swallowing enrages me to the point where (on the verge of tears and screaming like a lunatic) I actually accuse him of “trying to annoy me on purpose”! The guilt after such a horrendous episode kills me but all control and reasoning goes out the window. Sadly almost EVERYTHING my mother does has a similar effect. Again the guilt is unbearable but the rage is overwhelming. The noise she makes when she bites something and makes that tiny almost inaudible sound drives me insane. The little noise “hmm” she makes when there’s a lull in conversation at the dinner table. The way she talks under her breath (always when I’m in the room but can never make out what she is saying) can turn me into a full blown “my cracks all gone psycho”!! (for the record, I am not on crack). It’s not just sounds with my mother either. The way she drives (super slowly and forgetting to indicate) turns me into the backseat driver from hell or at least an awesome Ike Turner impersonator. It wouldn’t be so bad if she’d acknowledge her mistakes but when her defenses range from a bunch of Ho Hum “she wasn’t crossing yet, she was still waiting! (Yeah mum. For you to STOP!) Or I saw it! I had plenty of time! I don’t need to indicate there! (Why? Because that’s the ESP roundabout?) I can no longer go anywhere with her in a car unless I’m driving. Poor mum. It’s like I’m thinking she’s doing all these things to annoy me. Am I also paranoid? I wish I was a chilled out “normal” person but these things all drive me nuts! If one of my insane outbursts were to be uploaded onto youtube the comments would all contain “poor children, crazy bitch, crack whore, poor mother, poor husband (as the sound of him eating his ice cream like Tony Soprano makes me want to bludgeon him to death with his spoon! Poor husband again, as the sound he makes buttering his toast – all frantically and speedily like makes me want to scream at him for doing so. Imagine the looks I get from this? My children (poor children) included. Oh dear the list goes on and on. Again I am not on crack. Oh I should mention that trying to suppress such rage has me nearly in tears. I HATE this!! I think I’d do less damage if I had pyromaniac urges. Help!

  50. At least I have a label now!! lol. I was told once it’s probably OCD. Chewing, smacking, gum (even the sight of someone chewing gum, nfl i’m always screaming at the coaches on t.v.), dogs licking, eating, tapping, anything repetitive, typing, about everything you mentioned above and then some.
    My way to deal is always always always have ear plugs in ur pocket. You can still hear people talk, tv, etc, but the little things that bug me are so muted it’s not bad. And I”m not self conscious about them sticking out of my ears cause it’s better than going to jail for murder. Yes, I get that enraged. Red faced, fists clenched, eyes wide want to kill people. But mostly, I run. My boss came in my enclosed office one day chomping disgustingly on crackers, talk about a nightmare. I jumped up and ran out of the room, nearly knocking him down in the process. Thank God he needs me : ) I sleep with a fan on and ear plugs. Otherwise, I just avoid situations. At family functions, I eat in another room or eat with ear plugs in my ears, where I’m loud, but it does’t bother me when I do it. Weird huh?
    So thanks for posting this! I can finally show my husband, that I’m not crazy, I can’t help it and there is no cure so leave me alone and deal with it. Think what it’s like to be me!

  51. I just thought it was me! I’m so glad to know there is a name for it and that I’m not totally losing my mind! I cant stand the sound of people chewing or animals licking themselves. They both give me anxiety that is unreal but no real rage…so I guess I’m one of the lucky ones! I will tell people to move if they are eating next to me while watching TV etc. The only way it doesn’t bother me is if I am eating was well. My biggest pet peeve is someone eating a bowl of cereal. Yes its that’s specific but chewing in general still gets me. I cant help it but all I can do is imagine the food sloshing around in their nasty mouths. It will even make me gag sometimes! Anyway….so glad to know that I’m not alone!

  52. OMG. This is ME!! Almost every noise my husband makes gets me going. Eating, snoring, blowing his nose, the noise he makes after he takes a drink, and breathing (although I hate saying that, because I don’t want him to stop breathing), I just want him to be quiet while he is doing it. I can remember so clearly always telling my now grown daughter that she was eating her dill pickles to loud (imagine having to suck on a dill pickle). Don’t even get me started on popcorn in the movie theatre. Half of the time I don’t know what the movie is about until everyone around me have finished their popcorn and then I can focus on the movie. All this time I thought I was just being hard to get along with. Now I know what my husband always told me is true. It is my problem!!

    • I am right there with you with the popcorn! There are certain people I won’t go see movies with because they chew with their mouth open, and I won’t go to movies when they first come out because I can’t bare to sit beside someone stuffing their face.

    • Whereas I have dealt with this issue since I was eight years old. My triggers are snoring, breathing loud, and smacking. Other repetitive things such as someone shaking their legs nonstop or gnawing at their fingernails also bothers me. However, the first three I have listed have made me want to cause physical harm on people.

      Yet, the only thing I do is give evil looks and remove myself in anger.

      It sucks because I feel like I cannot live a normal life and any relationship I get in the boy snores, and it can’t be normal.

      I have read some articles where they treat the condition, with Ritalin. Just thought I’d chime in. It’s good to know you’re not alone, although I hate other people endure the same excruciating pain (it may not be physical, but it is mental & emotional) I go through.

  53. I hate it when people point out the obvious. I hate it when people shake their foot or bite or pick their finger nails. I hate hearing kids screaming and complaining. I hate it when someone is constantly sniffing or coughing or clearing their throat. Very annoying, I can’t stand snoring or when someone talks while Im trying to watch tv. Hearing someone chew. When my dog keeps licking himself, omg that is sooooooo annoying. When someone constantly whistles. Clicking of pens and tapping of fingers drive me nuts. When people don’t listen. When people point out mistakes.

  54. I am sitting here listening to a co-worker chomp on carrots as I read this. I want to jab a pen in his eye. I can’t handle it. I have NEVER been able to find a way to deal with it. I have another co-worker who chews with her mouth WIIIIIIDE open. I’ve had to just walk away from my desk because if I stay, I will punch her in the face.

    This is a horrible thing to deal with. I hate it.

    • My mother in law just flew in from out of town to watch our kids. She’s doing is a huge favor, but on the way from the airport I had to listen to the gym chewing. Cracking, popping, slurping, insanity. I feel everyone’s pain. All of it.

  55. The absolute WORST is that first bite of a potato chip. The mouth is always open and it’s the loudest crunch. It’s extra painful when this person then chews super slow, like it somehow helps the situation. Makes me bonkers!

  56. So, then, what you’re saying is that since society has devolved to the point at which having the manners of pigs is normal, expecting people to behave normally is now a disease?!

  57. Wow…what a revelation. All these years I’ve believed myself to be an awful, intolerant, infinitely weird person. Can’t believe it’s an actual disorder and that so many people seem to suffer from it.

    For me the main trigger is when someone chews hard candy or other food with a distinct crunch but chewing in general will usually irritate me to some degree. I also cringe at the sound of silverware clanging together or scraping against someones teeth but those sounds make me shudder not grow angry like listening to chewing does.

    I find it really interesting that so many people on this site have reported that it is most irritating when their mother chews because it is Definitely the case for me…and I have suffered so much guilt for those feelings over the years. Fortunately I don’t take people’s heads off but I occasionally have asked my mom to stop crunching for a moment when I am nearing what feels like a breaking point…I wonder what the ‘mother’ connection is as I doubt this is coincidence.

    I also suffer from moderate OCD due to early childhood trauma…I wonder if misophonia is somehow related.

  58. I always thought I was alone, but i guess not. Every time I hear someone eat, I have to grind my teeth so I don’t do something I would regret. Any noise that involves with people eating makes me crazy like ripping someone’s mouth out crazy.
    But I do find chewing something myself helps me stay calm.

  59. Thanks so much for all this info folks. My daughter has been complaining about this for about a year and I am thinking about getting her a therapist. Has therapy helped anyone? Is there anyone out there that has been cured? It is really affecting her relationships with friends and she often has to leave the dinner table to eat alone. It makes me so sad and I’m feeling a little helpless!

  60. Our lone 13 yr old son is constantly covering his ears at the dinner table, glaring and yelling at whoever happens to be chewing their food. My sarcastic internal conversation goes something like “go figure..people chewing food at the dinner table” – but I’ve learned to curb it, although it does cause irritation to the rest of the family. He has other sensitivity issues as well so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The interesting thing is this particular one started off slowly and over the past 2 years, has gotten worse. It used to be chewing with a mouth open, now it’s chewing period. THANK YOU for writing about this and letting us know that it IS a real issue, helping us reach out to develop coping skills for ourselves – not just him.
    *** I too would be interested if anyone can share information about therapy/treatment or coping mechanisms for him.

  61. PS: Misophonia is what it’s called. Here’s the Wiki link:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

  62. I remember the first day I obtained Misophonia. I was 6 or 7 years old at the dinner table eating white rice and pork chops seasoned with pepper, soy sauce and garlic (one of my favorite dinners still), it was so good I must have been eating it loudly when my older sibling turned to me and yelled in my face to STOP DOING THAT. “Stop doing what?” I said. She indicated that my eating habits were soooo annoying. And gradually after that I made it to the condition I am in today. Some might say I acquired Misophina through my environment (her yelling at me when I was so young but then again there was a lot of screaming in our house). Others might say it’s inherited because my older sister is annoyed by some sounds (loud breathing and teeth sucking) like I am, my younger sister is also just as affected as I am and little brother experiences this rage as well. Only one of my siblings is not bothered (lucky…).

    I’ve done a lot of reading and most everyone has the same reaction to these specific sounds as me which is: sudden lack of focus upon exposure to trigger sound and a simultaneous burning rage, disgust, offensive/defensive reaction or demeanor, an almost irresistible impulse to punch, slap, scream at or make the source of the sound aware of their actions and make them stop creating it. Some people are animals when they eat and it is normal that a person would be grossed out at the sloppy eaters’ lack of consideration as inferred by the chomping, smacking, slurping, etc. that they create, whomever raised them should be embarrassed… but other individuals are just normal people eating and those ones create just as violent a feeling.

    Some non-sufferers will never understand what it’s like. I would like to try to enlighten them; imagine the emotions (the chemical reactions) that you would encounter if someone were to hold your head under water just until you almost ran out of air. Wouldn’t you come up screaming at the very least? It’s hard to convey but the feelings are so strong that (usually unintentional) sounds seem deliberate. People who don’t have Misophona and try to minimize it as if it were some kind of fickleness, are mistaken and cruel. Worst of all is when they pretend they are doctors and attempt to “cure” you by subjecting you to the sounds against your will. Fools… That’s torture. Now, imagine sitting in a hammock 200 feet above the ground while you eat dinner. Go ahead, take a bite of that favorite meal of yours laid out in front of you while you swing in the breeze and glance down at the hard ground. The uneasy feeling that makes your imaginary food go down in lumps is one of the multiple feeling that can be found in me when I have to sit next to you at breakfast/lunch/dinner. I can feel the blood pressing against the walls of my veins, making its way to the tips of my fingers and toes. My breathing changes and I can almost feel my pupils dilate and all my senses intensify which only makes it all worse. It’s adrenaline, it’s fight or flight and you’re lucky most sufferers choose flight. We have a whole lot of fire but it’s usually a controlled burn.

    The noises access some kind of survival mode and a whole slew of emotions- mainly rage in my case- surface. The best explanation I’ve seen is that my wires are crossed. People who intentionally (maliciously to aggravate us) create these sounds are engaging in abusive behavior. People have a direct line to the part of our brain that turns our bodies into a boiling stew of anger, social anxiety (soc. anx. because you can’t hit people), frustration and sometimes sadness. Like wearing our heart on our sleeve, we wear our sanity in our ears.

    Another similarity I saw in others’ description’ was that the closer (socially) they are to a loud-eating person, the harder it was to endure the noises. What is that all about? I think maybe because only the people who are close to me know about my strange condition and when they continue to create the noises, it feels like they don’t care about me or how I feel or something like that. Strangers go away relatively quickly but my loved ones I will encounter countless more times in dreadful-noise-making/snacking/food environments. I am wrought with grief about where to draw the line on asking others to modify their behavior for me. Most are okay with having the TV or radio up loud at dinner and being more aware their chewing which helps but others will not accommodate me saying that the noises they make are unconscious and it’s not their problem it’s mine. It’s hard for me to see how hard it might be for them to adjust since I’ve been practicing quiet eating for 20 years. Not being an auditory nuisance is high on my social list but not for them and they won’t oblige. It’s troubling, sometimes all I can do is go hide and maybe cry about it. My great aunt whom I see everyday has (I think) a type of Synesthesia where bright colors make her feel jumpy or uneasy (probably not a fun feeling). Does that mean I cleared my closet? Nope. That would be inconvenient for me and would stifle my self expression through dress. So I can see how it would be a challenge to change for one persons problem. Although, I think not making so much stinkin’ noise while eating is a lot easier than wearing grey, blue, or white all the time.

    So, obviously I have no answers, only commiseration and suggestions for causes. The last thing I want to do is take drugs for it. I need a human electrician or something. RE-WIRE ME!!! One last thing I noticed this morning is that I do not recall EVER having a dream of being affected by those noises. If the noises have ever been in my dreams at night, I never noticed them. Maybe that is a clue to something… Anyway, sleep is my sanctuary. There are a lot of beautiful sounds out there. Today I’m going to go sit by the ocean and let the waves heal my soul, put on some good music and hopefully later find a place I can go for a bit that is filled with precious silence. Today, I will be happy listening to the sounds I love and let them fill me with contentment and joy of the same intensity as the other emotions are so frequently privileged to.

    To non-sufferers: Please do not antagonize
    To sufferers: Find joy where you can and try not to slap anyone

  63. I HATE IT when my family members make that noise. I rarely ever get angry, but when I hear that noise I am filled with the rage of the devil. Sometimes I have to leave the room to keep from crying. I have problems with other noises like pe apple rubbing their hands together.

  64. Try having Misophonia, and your husband CHEWING his heart away on CRUNCHY foods like chips and cookies and other “wonderful” crunchy snacks in the middle of the night. Wakes me up all the time, enraged and pissed beyond words (btw, I’m 4 months pregnant). He’s lucky he is so cute and sweet most of the time.

  65. Omg!! it dirves me CRAZY when people my sounds when they chew!! i always get so angry, i wanna slap the person, i start glareing at them, so they will get the point. one time my sister was going to town on makeing sounds when she ate. i tried to just calm down, because i was getting SOO angry! when i could not take it anymore, i said ” UGGH fuck it!” grabed my things and went to my room. but yes its so dang annoying!

  66. Thanks so much for this site. I thought I was the only one. I was sitting at lunch today with someone and it sounded like he had a microphone in his mouth. Not only the slurping, gulping and crunching but he also made pleasure sounds after every bite. I have always been sensitive and extremely aggravated by mouth noises including dogs licking themselves. When I was little my brother and grandfather would blindfold me and force me to sit in a chair while they chewed food in my ear until I could guess what they were eating. I don’t know if this caused the problem or if they took advantage of a problem I already had. My ex husband used making eating noises as a form of torture, he thought it was funny. When I drove him somewhere and he was eating extra loud I would envision driving us into a tree to get away from the noise. Anyhow I’m happy with my new caringn man and who’s laughing now. I wish more people knew that this is a real issue and wouldn’t call us jerks. By the way I know people make fun of mouth breathers. My nasal passages are too small I would die if I didn’t breath through my mouth.

  67. Thomas Heath Coleman

    omg i thought i was the only one i am driven to the point that i want to beat the shit out the person even kill for making a sound of course i wouldnt do it but the rage comes over me is terrible i got bipolar depression anxiety panic attacks all kinds shit so but im somewhat ok that i can some what handle life its im still trying get over this i been dealing with this 13 years and im still struggling i just hope i dont waste all my life feeling like this and never done anything with my life im 30 i repeat 30 ive had hard life cant even imagine if you never felt the pain you never know where i come from if can think of worst pain that times 10 every day all day for years and get better some what manageable and fall back into hell yes its a living hell but anyways this is just one the little things that bother me glad to know not only one lol well wish me luck maybe ill finally get the guts one day if i keep feeling some what ok to have a life agian

  68. Eating noises make me insane. I hate the kit kat commercial so much. My son Slurping when he gets to the bottom of a milkshake or something I want it to be over so bad. I try not to yell at the kid for drinking his drink but he just keeps on slurping like something else is gonna come out of that cup. Then my husband is the worst. He eats almonds in the bed one at a time.the crunch is SO AWFUL. I want to beat him to death with the almond can. I have to get out of bed and leave the room. The dog chewing his food or licking himself makes me crazy. And my husband slurping hot drinks WHO DRINKS LIKE THAT? do you not hear yourself? See how I drink my coffee silently? Oh and cereal. Cereal is torture….. they slurp AND crunch. and grapes. My husband can make the most infuriating sound with grapes. He bites them so hard. The skin popping is awful then his teeth bang together. I stopped buying grapes. HELP! I don’t even eat anymore. I just skip the whole thing.

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  70. I too suffer from this problem. I have always very much disliked hearing/seeing people chew their food. It has gotten worse for me over time. I cannot stand when people chew gum so loud that they are popping it, and that I can see their tongue. Kind of looks like watching a cow chew. It grosses me out. And at times makes me furious. In most cases I can leave the room. In my case I work with a particular individual who chews gum every single day, and all day long. The worst part is that her office is just feet away from my desk. How do I politely tell her that her gum popping, loud chewing, tongue twisting is driving me nuts?! I hate it. I can’t help it. I use ear plugs, I turn on my heater, but that does not always help. I can still hear her.Any suggestions would be helpful. I don’t want to be rude, and I don’t want it to be awkward. I also can’t people who type loud or sip on their water like it’s hot. Sigh…

  71. @Lisa Fincher:
    I feel your pain. The thing is that I love my Mom; in fact I call her my best friend. However her chewing habits annoy me like crazy and when I was younger I could remember having feelings of hatred (which I later feel guilty about) whenever she makes noise with chewing gum. What is also annoying is that she is super defensive about herself; even if she is wrong about something she would not admit it and she is always judging me about antisocial behaviours, and how a person should have manners,etc…….i can just go on and on all i can say is that it is unfortunate some people are this way even parents who tell us not to have anti social behaviours……

  72. It has a name! I thought I was the only one with this. I have an excellent marriage with my wife, but one slowly chewed almond (AAAAARGH!!!!) after another makes me want to scream! I have found that I try to eat as quietly as humanly possible. But there are times when I have a particularly juicy morsel that i feel that people can hear me chew a block away. I get self conscious of the noise and apologize for the obscene amount of noise I am making when I chew. Yet when I apologize, I am informed that no one hears me chewing, so again I am driving myself nuts with my own chewing noises.
    Additionally, I when I eat, I my teeth never make contact with the fork or spoon. If they do make contact it seems to resonate through my entire skull! I hear people scrape food off their forks when taking bites, and I cannot understand how they don’t freak out that their teeth are contacting the silverware. I don’t know if that is part of the misophonia or not.

  73. I never knew there was a name for it. I thought I just was highly intolerant of people and keep beating myself up for it and feeling guilty. On the other hand, why can’t people clip their nails in private or do their disgusting habits behind closed doors?

    It’s one thing if a person makes noises they can’t help and it’s another thing if they make noises they can help.

    I asked a friend “Why do you have to keep twiddling your thumbs?” and his therapist told him that I was being shallow and so he hasn’t stopped. He just see’s how much it bugs me and continues. If someone knows something bugs you it seems like they would at least try and not do it all the more. It’s as though they would like to mess with me by doing it more and more. Then I try and contain my irritation but I find myself being snappy. I think if they are a friend and they know it bugs you they could at least try to stop.

    Can you imagine being around someone with terrets syndrome. It could drive you totally mad!

  74. And here I thought I was just weird. The sound of people chewing, swallowing/gulping, and dogs licking anything, it all just makes me want to punch a hole in my wall. The worst for me is when someone is eating chips. My mother loves chips and to top it off she is a very loud chewer anyway. I swear it’s like listening to a machine make gravel in an auditorium (her mouth is like an echoing chamber). When I was growing up I would hide the chips so she couldn’t find them and I wouldn’t have to listen to them. This eventually extended to cookies, graham crackers, Wheat Thins, and anything else that was really crunchy. When I finally told her the truth (two years after I moved out of course), she laughed and asked me why I’d never told her. Then she promised not to eat chips whenever I came to visit, our relationship has really improved since then. Both sad and funny, really.
    I’ve had several roommates, and over the years I’ve learned to tolerate the noises to a certain degree. If we’re having a sit down meal, I try and stay as plugged into a conversation as I possibly can because I do tune out the chewing/swallowing noises after awhile. If someone is eating a snack or having a meal by themselves, I usually turn on the television/radio or if they’re really loud, I put my earbuds in and listen to my iPod until they’re done. I still haven’t found any way to deal with chips though. I usually have to leave the apartment/house altogether and just go for a walk or something. It also helps with the irrational anger I always end up feeling towards the chewer.
    It’s strange that the author mentioned tinnitis, because I was diagnosed with it when I was a teenager. So I wonder if there is a correlation. Maybe one day they’ll come up with a magic pill, but until then I’m going to be listening to a lot of 80s rock n’ roll.

  75. Oh my goodness.
    I heard about this not too long ago on The Project actually.
    I thought it was just me. It’s great to know I’m not alone. I even tend to sometimes get annoyed with the sound of my own chewing which sounds crazy but it’s true, especially if I’m home alone.

    I have been dealing with this for a while. I keep telling myself to let it be, it’s natural but then I’d go somewhere to eat the next day and it’d still be an agitation. My family keep telling me I’m on thin ice about this situation and me getting annoyed especially if someone starts talking whilst eating i feel like ripping their face off.
    My Nan is in her late 70’s and if even some of you, I am basically screaming in my head for as long as she’s sitting beside me taking small bites of the smaller portioned meals she’s now considered. Feels like I’m trapped sometimes, start twitching and what not, trying not to stare someone down to stop. Then I get the ‘don’t think you can tell me what to do, i was eating with my mouth closed the entire meal/ drinking quietly for you….*still chewing while they’re talking down to you*
    Somehow I resist… Luckily enough.

    I do have real trouble with it though, i want to be able to deal with it so i don’t get mad at family members when I’m really wanting quality time with them.
    It’s the chewing, the eating and talking, spotting someone fidgeting out of the corner of my eye (even though i game on PC and playstation), sniffing, sneezing, blowing noses, Crunching, gulping a lot of a drink, slurping, whistling, that scraping of a utensil on bowls or plates…
    The only person I’m really tolerating and not taking notice of the noises is from my fiance.
    I’m scared of going insane one day yelling at everyone at a quiet luncheon or something or other. I don’t know how I’ll keep from it but I’ll certainly try… Thankyou for writing this article!

  76. So glad I came across this – I just thought I was being moody. This sounds about right. But I find that mine is slightly different in the sense that the things that irritate me the most are nail picking and biting. And like you mentioned, it tends to become more irritating when it’s someone close to you – this is particularly true with burping at the moment. It’s only really when my dad does it that it irritates me. But the nail biting is with anyone. Do you think this could be misophonia? I can literally feel my blood boil and have to block my vision with a pillow or something.. But that doesn’t work if I can still here it.

  77. I realized I had a problem when I was much younger, probably early junior high. I hate it so much that it was hard for me when I had children because I couldn’t stand the sound of them sucking on a bottle. Don’t worry I still calmly delt with it and feed them. However I think this is probably why I was so on the ball with breaking them from the bottle and sippy cup. And then there was table food! OMGOSH!! I HATE seeing someone else’s food, so I showed my each of my children (I have three more then wonderful children) how to chew with their month’s closed from a very early age. And thankfully all three of them eat with their month’s shout. Makes my life so much easier.

  78. I can’t stand the chewing either and it irritates me worse depending on who it is. My wife chews with her mouth shut but makes a lot of “spit” noises and I can’t even figure out how it’s that loud. I have to really try to eat with my family without a tv or radio on. I only go to movies in the a.m. because I can’t stand hearing people eat popcorn. Other issues are people who make spit sounds when they talk. I don’t hear anything they say. Clearing throats constantly. Scratching with long fingernails on pantyhose. Clipping fingernails. Although, I have to say that I have to have white noise to sleep. I feel like the sounds that annoy me are pronounced at night so I have to drown them out. Like our dogs licking themselves. It’s a bit comforting to know that other people have issues with these as well.

  79. I too suffer from this, I’m happy to know that I’m not the only one and I’m not just crazy. I’ve been suffering from this problem for 5 years now and I absolutely CAN NOT stand Gum chewing it drives me insane and makes me so furious. The worst part is that it keeps on getting worse and worse every year. Whenever my mother or sister chew gum I literally want to claw them to death with my nails the sad part is that they already know gum chewing bothers me they just do it on purpose to get a reaction out of me. It really does sadden my heart to know that I actually have thoughts about hurting my own loved ones over a piece of gum, but usually what I do is that I get headphones lay back and try to think happy thoughts. It does make me feel a whole better knowing that I’m not the only one in the world to suffer from this.

  80. Whenever my best friend eats, all I hear is her chewing and I want to pinch her in her face. I’ve tried listening to background noise etcbit otndoesnt work. It’s making me hate her.

  81. My co-worker: tongue clicking, gum chewing/snapping, foot tapping, humming. Drives me INSANE. She also does this throat-clearing thing that sounds more like a yell. She’s veeeeery sensitive to even imagined slights, so I can’t even begin to think about asking her to knock some of it off.

  82. I am thrilled to read other people suffer from the same condition. I am totalled demented by my co-workers eating apples, celery and carrots. It feels like they are ‘eating in my ear’. I’ve had this condition for as long as I can remember – my EN&T doctor once said I had ‘super sensitive hearing’. Other annoying noises are people who click pens, rattle their nails on the desk top, dripping taps, whispered conversations and lots more – I’ve often wondered if it is part of ADD.

  83. LOL as I sit here and bitch at my cat for licking himself! ๐Ÿ™‚ “Damn it cat what do you do? wait till I’m sitting here to start bathing yourself? Holy shit stop!” Really? I’m yelling at my cat for cleaning himself ..wtf… I can remember being little and having to get out of the car so my mom could smack the crap out of her food when she ate… I couldn’t take it ! sends me into a rage and I must flee!

  84. Oh great, i need to get this off my chest. My mother, she breaths like a maniac – huufff puufff, huuff puuff, huuff puuff…. She will sit cross legged and the foot that dangles constantly waggles, huuff puuff, huuff puuff. Her husband, not my dad or step dad, just some trucker she married after i was grown up; he chomps his food and continues to smack his gums for hours after eating, until he’s ready to eat again. He clears his throat at least every minute and i mean he clears his throat – BRGRROOOOAARGH! And when he sneezes, everyone’s got to hear about it. My boss, he drags his feet and chomps his food. Another colleague; can’t sing for s%*t but bursts into song every time it’s nice and quiet and continues to sing until interrupted. My neighbor, every time she reverses the car she grinds the gear box trying to find reverse, every bloody time. All of these people snore, with the exception of the neighbor, i can’t verify this but it would not surprise me. Fly’s, scooters, marsh warblers, moblie phones, noisy smokers… to name but a few of lifes peace and quite offenders. I’m only happy when it rains.

  85. This thread is hilarious! spot on for the way ive felt for so long, I thought it was just me.
    Here are my major annoyances;
    People eating apples, crunching into each bite. Dogs licking peoples faces, dogs licking themselves, slurping of soup, the crunching and slurping of cereal, the clanking of silverware on dishes, the sound of people eating popcorn, snoring/breathing loud, also people who cough alot, People who repeatedly pop their knuckles, wrists, elbows, knees etc..

    I feel better for getting that off my chest. I thought I was just a irritable person but there are lots of people like me. I always be mindful not to be the annoying one (God forbid) bit I know sometimes I am guilty too

  86. As a child I can remember sharing a room with my sister who was a loud breather. I would just look at her with her mouth hanging open making the most discussing, saliva noises and end up crying in enraged pain as would not cease. After a nudge and then a kick there may have been seconds of sacred quiet relief, but it would start up again and cause me to fantasize about smothering her.
    It says misophonia usually starts in childhood and that is certainly true for me, but has only gotten worse. I have so many triggers, besides all the typical ones of chewing, snoring, constant sniffling. Most foreign languages esp. Chinese, anything middle eastern with that guttural sound, german of course. Monotone voices drive me nuts as well. Finger licking grosses me out severely. I could go on and on…newspaper rattling, screaming kids, small dogs yapping, subwoofer noise from a car. I end up instantly hating the offenders. My husband thinks I overreact, but of course he’s the worst offender!!
    Are lobotomies still an option?!

  87. For the longest time I had never heard of mesophonia, and only learned about it last year. I definitely have it, but don’t nearly have as many triggers as others. The only thing that bothers me are the chewing sounds for sure, someone slurping soup or a hot beverage, and lastly when a person whispers “ahhh” after drinking something. My wife can’t seem to understand it and thinks I make it up.

    I also do the same with the eating by having the TV on or play music. It’s not a fun thing to live with, but I’m glad I’m not alone! ๐Ÿ˜€

    Strangely though, not all chewing sounds bother me. If somebody has something extremely crunchy, that doesn’t bother me as much, which you would think would be the worst trigger of all.

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  89. I just found your post after looking up information on my issue with handling noises, I gets me really really mad, stressed, frustrated ….to hear some one chew,…!!! …but not during lunch or in a restaurant but in the office, when everyone is quiet and typing and working, and maybe talking but there’s a guy who buys his chips and is just making such noise I can’t stand it! and it’s not regular chips that you can think well they make the regular noise when eating chips but they are pork skin chips that in my opinion are nosier and then he opens his peanuts bag, not salted peanuts but with their shell!! imagine the noise all together with the bag trying to get them out, uggh it’s unbearable …. ๐Ÿ˜›

  90. Thanks for making me laugh about something that makes me grit my teeth every meal. It’s not everyone. Just the husband and his father. They both eat like pigs – mouth open, strange sounds evne if the mouth is closed, talking with mouth full. I can hear him eating across the room, when the kids are eating the same thing and they are closer to me. I don’t hear them. I hear him. At the table, I don’t hear them . I hear him. Not sure if I qualify for the full syndrome, but everything fits when it’s him or his dad,

    I love white noise, actually, and no other sounds bother me the way this does (anger, tense muscles). I have talked to him. Repeatedly. He won’t change. I try very hard not to eat breakfast or lunch with him, but we eat dinner together daily. I will have to resort to white noise or music at dinner. I dread what happens when the kids leave us and there’s less chatter at the table.

  91. My dad has been doing this for ages and I usually blasted loud music to stop him, but after reading this article and learning about physics and noise cancelling waves I looked for a sound that would cancel out his teeth sucking/teeth kissing sounds and got a free app called coffitivity…the sound waves of the coffee shop cancel all the annoying sounds into an acceptable white noise. just wanted to thank you for actually making me turn to science for an answer instead of just suffering

  92. I found this post while trying to find out what to do about my dog’s constant lick, lick, LICKING. Her tongue makes a horrendous slurpy sandpaper noise as she nervously licks carpets, furniture, bedspreads, heat registers, walls, and herself whenever she isn’t sleeping. It makes a tongue scraaaaaping noise that makes me want to tear all my skin off (she’s 13 and still going strong ;). After reading this I realize that it isn’t only the dog that’s neurotic….it’s me, too! (My husband has figured out how to hide and replicate this noise to add to my distress and to his enjoyment. Real funny, Bub! ๐Ÿ˜‰ I always thought my extreme reactions to eating noises, gum-snapping and other various mouth sounds were just that I was normal and others were disgusting pigs, and here I find out, in my 50’s, that all my life I’ve been overly-sensitive. (Honestly, I’m not kidding—I really thought it was all “them”.) Hmmm, I’m going to have to look into this further and see if some coping mechanisms will help. Eye-opening to say the least! (But I still think some people just need to learn manners).

  93. I just found this while googling ‘my dogs mouth sounds piss me off’ i am so irritated by it! And i love my dog. She just got told to go away because i couldn’t work with her constant annoying mouth smacking noises! I always thought it was just me easily annoyed, glad to see im not alone

  94. Haley J. Froehlich

    This, this, this. It’s really awful; I can’t stand crunching sounds, or smacking sounds, or clicking. They all make me want to scream in the worst way. Torture is a good word for it. So, when somebody is eating, I either have to eat with them, or I have to go someplace nice and quiet and turn on loud music so I can’t still hear the awful mastication even through closed doors.

    And of course, people don’t understand that I can’t just ignore it. It’s something to get over, not to be taken seriously and worked with. It hurts when those around me don’t get that it’s as much of– or more of– a pain to me as it is to them.

  95. I’m with Susie. There are very few noises like that that don’t bother me. My skin crawls and I can feel the rage rising in a moments time. My poor dog gets my rath often. I try to stop her quickly before I reach the scream stage. I am so happy to find out that this isn’t just a flaw in my person. I also do have for as long as I can remember tinnitus

  96. is this a support group? OMG! I thought I was just getting old and crabby. My husband bangs his teeth together when he chews. It’s especially worse when he’s eating something really crunchy. Sometimes his jaw clicks, but that doesn’t bother me. he chews so fast and hard and when I watch him, it makes me nuts. He doesn’t know how crazy it makes me.

    My daughter is a savourer. She eats everything she loves with a passion, and that makes me nuts. Not because she loves it, but because the noises she creates while eating ice cream, or drinking a glass of water even. When you add the hums and moans on top of it, then I say something.

    I am guilty of trying to get things from my teeth and I try very hard to not make noise, or I leave the room and go find a way to get it out. I cannot even stand the sound of food in my own mouth if it’s really crunchy. I try so hard to be quiet when eating chips. Unless I’m in a loud room.

  97. How do I get it to go away? It’s awful

  98. I never knew this was really a recognized thing until today. This is totally me. I can’t say I have it as bad as some others, but the feeling of rage I get sometimes is nearly unbearable. I’m worked up right now just thinking about it. Unfortunately, my fiance is the person that drives me the most crazy. He is a mouth breather. Hearing him breathe loudly, constantly drives me absolutely bonkers. I’ve also gotten so that I cannot be in the same room when he is eating unless the TV is on loud or I’m completely distracted. Sometimes I find myself literally digging my fingernails into my palms or legs to stop the urge to smack him. I hate being this way. At the same time, I wish people didn’t have to be so darn loud with bodily noises. Hopefully I can learn to tone down my reactions somewhat.

  99. Thank you for making me feel better and laugh out loud over a condition my husband just can’t understand. I’m currently sat here completely clenched inside as he slurps, sucks,crunches and generally noisily eats his way through a bowl of rice krispies! I literally do want to punch him in the face and empty the bowl over his head!!! I’m not bothered by any other noises in such an extreme way although I prefer silence to anything else. I try to focus on other things when I feel myself getting clenched, its difficult but with practice its possible.

  100. Finally something to explain me and my brother. When I was younger it used to bother me with the different noises but then it left as I aged. Although my brother started to do it too and never got out of it. He’d have a temper tantrum and kick me if he saw me bite my nails or chewing. I tried my best to be quiet but he still heard it. Now he has a reason and no one can keeping bothering him about forgetting about it, which kinda upset him so thank u. ๐Ÿ™‚

  101. I had to leave the room because (nothing personal honey) but my spouses chewing and swallowing noises was making me angry. What I want to do is run out of the room screaming! But I just leave. When I tell him it hurts his feelings and he says he can’t help his loud noises. I think it’s cosmic humor to pair us up. I can not handle the noise!

  102. My biggest issue is whistling, but many other things bother me too. But when I say bother, I don’t mean I get annoyed, I mean I get a headache and my heart starts beating super fast. Then I have to remove myself from the situation.
    My family tells me I’m too sensitive and I honestly wish it didn’t bother me. I don’t want to get annoyed by people who don’t even realizing what they are doing (except for my brothers who think its hysterical for me to finally freak out and get in trouble and leave).
    Help?

  103. Thank you for bringing this term to my eyes. I thought I was going crazy because the sound of whistling, slurping, sipping, and slamming doors drives me bonkers. I have learned to control my rage towards others when they do those things by literally spacing out of mind. Then all I can do is see feel but not hear anything around me. This therapy helps me focus and not get angry and helps me learn to read lips instead of voices. Some call this sound deprecation and it has done wonders with my tinnitus as well. A good pair of sound dampening ear plugs particularly used on flight line tarmacks is my choice. Just don’t use during driving and play loud music to sing to to counter the irritating mind numbing sounds. Thank you for you help and good luck dealing with this problem.

  104. I write this as I’m hiding in my pantry waiting for my son to finish the tortuous process of eating a caramel apple! It makes me want to scream and cry! It feels like an eternity it’s been going on, THIS apple will never be gone!!!!
    The worst offender in my house? My husband. I try to joke it’s the acoustics of his Kas or head but there is NOTHING louder than him eating a bowl of cereal. It’s like yelling! He gets SO angry at me if I ask him to eat somewhere else or to stop. I know he thinks I’m just being bitchy, but no one understands how awful it is, it’s almost painful to listen to!
    I am glad to know I’m not alone.

  105. I definitely have this disorder! Any noise enrages or irritates. Breathing, laughing(especially),clearing of the throat, talking, chewing, ect… Recently I realized that depending on where I am I can tolerate it but when I’m at school I just wanna punch everyone of my classmates when I hear them talk, laugh, or chew.
    When I was younger I hated hearing my brothers breath. It caused me to have an unwanted arousal which made me lash out at them…they caught on to my hatred of any noise they made and would purposely breath heavy. It was torture having a room right next to them.
    Also when I was younger it was only men that enraged me when I heard them talk but now it’s both men and women. I usually hold in my anger, I know how to control it. It’s just weird that the only time I really get enraged by noise is when I’m at school, around my classmates.

  106. I know I have this, but it is so good to read that I am not alone and “just too sensitive”. The sound of people opening bags of chips *shudder*.
    I stopped going to films, because it is popcorn and the sound of straws in plastic lids and munching ice and the “slurrrrrp—-Ahhhhhhhh!”

    I work in an open office environment, which is a modern, fresh hell for me. Constant slurping, potato chips/cellophane bags, nail clipping (why, oh why is this done in public). I have to listen to music all day long, even if I am not in the mood, or someone will end up being hurt, and I can’t imagine the hellishness prison would be for someone like me.

    Earplugs and $350 dollar noise cancelling headphones are my only coping mechanisms, as well as almost complete solitary living.

    How do I get cured? I would give ANYTHING to not have this.
    It is nice to know I am not alone. I have tears; 25 years of being told “you’re too sensitive” blah blah blah. Vindication is great, but I want a cure.

    • I used to work in an office and there were many times when I was in my cubicle ready to explode over noises around me. Headphones helped me. I would be so irritated that people’s phone calls would start to upset me.

  107. exposure therapy, I might add, did not work. They tried that on me, and I ended up, after 3 sessions, Running away and never going back.

  108. I totally suffer. Has anyone ever thought that maybe the people making these noises while eating are the ones with the disorder/condition/psychological issue!?!? It’s just not right! There’s CLEARLY something not wired right in their brain for them to think it’s perfectly fine to chomp and smack away…like anyone really enjoys hearing it!!??

  109. My Dad’s jaw cracked and clicked when he ate. I wanted to scream !
    Eating noises seem to disgust me , especially gum chewers.
    And what is it about people with raspy voices ? Is it trendy or lazy to sound like your gurgling while talking ?
    Thanks for putting a name to my ‘phobia’…..
    Keith

  110. My sister chews so loudly with her mouth open and I’m glad It’s not just me

  111. Ah, so it has a name. I vacillated between extremes of blaming others (and fantasizing about maiming them at the dinner table with a butter knife) and blaming myself (maiming myself for being so sensitive). However, ‘table manners’, i.e. eating soundlessly and neatly, seems to me a cultural phenomenon. I worked in South Korea, and eating with some locals was hellish. The sounds they made were indescribable, it was like sitting in a pigsty at feeding time. Yet this was the general way of eating in public. Visiting Africa, I encountered the same among the locals, and a friend claimed that many Canadians and North Americans eat with much noise. No personal experience, blame my friend for misrepresenting, but more importantly – no offence meant in any way to any cultures. The point I’m trying to make is that there’s no one to blame here, there’s no right or wrong way. Except my friend, of course, if he is incorrect.

    I just wish there was a cure. I battle to control it, specially when I’m stressed and/or sick, but I hate the way my irritation and body language affect others. At least now I can present my partner with this diagnosis.

  112. Omg, I experience this too much! Since moving in with my mom and she has tmj… the poping of her jaw doesn’t bother me but she eat so loud! I tell her to close her mouth and she gets mad. I think she tries to make me feel bad for her bad manners. She is always sucking her teeth, smacking while eating, slurps while eating soup or drinking, she chomps with her mouth wide open when eating chip, and I don’t know how to get her to STOP! She gets mad but it’s really irritating me.

  113. This is 100% me, the way my dad eats literally makes me angry, I eat as fast as I can and leave the table and pace around so it doesn’t seem like I’m trying to avoid contact although I really am. when my dad grabs a snack or something while watching tv I pretend I’m hungry too and to rummage through the cabinets a bit and come back when he’s finished smacking his food. Chips, crackers, or ice especially make me want to bash my head against a wall. I’ve only told him it bothers me once and he got offended and started criticizing me about a bunch of unrelated bullshit so I guess I’ll just have to keep trying to avoid it. I know I’m not the only one it bothers, I’ve seen guests who are clearly annoyed by it and I feel embarrassed for him but I guess it’s his problem, I’m not going to nag my father in his own home. If he doesn’t care that it bothers me and others I guess I’ll just have to suck it up. Other things bother me too. Chewing nails, licking fingers, talking with a mouthful, slurping (all of which my father does consistently) but I don’t really get as angry, just annoyed… Literally he licks his fingers like 10-20 times per meal… Ok it does make me angry. Don’t get me wrong though, i love my dad and he isn’t the only person who has angered me with poor manners but he is the perfect example of someone who can fulfill every single pet peeve I have. Welp… rant over I feel great, until dinner tomorrow than I’ll be a mess again.

    • I feel exactly the same way. My dad has a “narrow nasal cavern(?)” or whatever he calls it. So when he eats, there he can either breathe through his mouth, or breathe through his nose, which is the equivalent of trying to breathe through a straw clogged by a milkshake. And every time, without fail, he will choose the latter option. When we eat at dinner, I plow through my meal and retreat to anywhere I can avoid the noise. When I can’t leave, I get so enraged I dig my nails into my hands, and my eyes water because I’m so concentrated on the one thing I cannot stand. I leave halfway through meals, without any explanation. It also doesn’t help that I’m in high school, and I live with him, so I can’t fully escape it. Sorry, that was kinda long.

  114. The sound of chewing food, gum, and heavy sighing drive me into a rage. I dont want to be superstitious and say i have this disorder, but i sure as hell wouldnt be suprised if i was diagnosed with it. Im at a young age right now, and do not want to live my life being angry all because of some annoying sounds. But when i hear one bite of a soft, chewy, kind of food, im out. Ive actually come close to punching a wall because of my father eating so loudly. I eat with my family like normal, but i always try to turn my tv on so i dont have to hear my dad every night. But it doesnt help. My dad is the loudest chewer ive ever heard in my life. Its to the point where ive noticed other people giving him looks. He doesnt chew with his mouth open, but he shoves a HUGE amount of food in his mouth everytime he eats, like he hast eaten in years. Then the annoying sound starts, i dont know how to describe it but its like the sound of something soft being mushed up… basically the sound of chewing! I dont know how he doesnt hear it himself but it pisses me off so much. So much. And if i get up and leave my parents will be pissed, so im forced to hear this god awful sound for who knows how long! Im always the first one to be done with my food, and then i go to my room to calm myself down because i get so worked up. He always wonders why i never talk to him, and its because i visualize him mowing on food! I wish i didnt find these things so outragingly annoying, because its really taken over my life. When im triggered by sighing, and chewing, you do not want to be around me because if you’re chewing gum or something while talking to me, most likely i want to punch you right in the nose.

  115. oh God, listening to my husband eat bread pudding right now, and I want to jam a pencil into the back of his neck.

  116. listening to my husband eat bread pudding right now, and I want to jam a pencil into the back of his neck.

  117. Finally I found a name for my thing ๐Ÿ™‚ I see some people commenting that they`re get annoyed by the sound of people chewing loudly. This is way more than getting annoyed. It`s very close to rage. You lose concentration, cannot even think and wanna smack that person rigth in the middle of the face. It explodes inside of you as soon as you hear the sound. I have a coworker 2 qubicle next to me. Ohh my God. He makes every kind of noises possiblly a person can make. Cleaning your throat and nasals as loud as possible, eating loudly, eating all kinds of chips etc. Can opening a bag of chips last minutes? I use earplugs and listen to music whenever I sit in my qubicle ๐Ÿ™‚

  118. Really interesting to read about how other people experience similar issues. I don’t have much problem with sounds of other people eating except a co-worker (now moved to different company) who ate a bag of Dorito’s every day, crunching down on each one with her mouth open. Wanted to strangle her. My main issue is with one of my two cats, the pudgy, older one: she makes so much noise drinking water (snorting and gulping noises) and grooming herself (all kinds of horrible slurping and grunting noises) that I feel a strong impulse to throw her across the room. I would never do that, but I feel such rage at her… The other cat, young male, doesn’t bother me at all – he just sips water and grooms himself so quietly and delicately! Maybe he knows… My dog drinking water also annoys me but not as much. Oh well, at least I know I’m not totally crazy (or an animal hater) ๐Ÿ™‚

  119. As soon as my kids get into the car and say I’m hungry…I just go into mental paralysis. The noise of bags and wrappers that fast food make while getting it out is my first shock. Then that fast food smell hits me… Finally comes the heavy breathing…teeth clacking.. Lip smacking.. jaw popping.. Swallowing half masticated food. Then slurp down some 64 gallon beverage! The sound of all that enrages me and sends me into a frenzy! I can barely drive and want to ram my car into the nearest pole!
    I can’t take my kids to eat out because I want to kill them and myself before the torture ends!
    I don’t have a dog or a cat because the licking noise makes me feel like choking them to death.

    It’s nice to know I’m not alone in this world and most of you have way more patience than I will ever be. I just can’t go eat with someone else… I’d rather hit my hand with a hammer! I just don’t know when it started..and I can’t seem to overcome this plight!

  120. I wish i could eat dinner with all of you because i can not stand to eat with anyone else,or sit in a room with a ticking clock lol i am getting mad just thinking about it

  121. I can’t help but feel frustrated and angry listening to people chew. I even try blocking it out by breathig louder or making noise. My brother constantly smacks his lips and chews so loudly. I ask him nicely to chew quietly with his mouth closed (he is 15). My mother tells me to stop whining and that I’m obsessing over the noise. She argues that she can’t hear it even when she’s sitting right next to him. It only makes me more frustrated that they talk to me like I’m an idiot. Nice to know I’m not the only one. It drives me absolutely crazy.

  122. I HATE when people make eating noises! So much so that I feel like I’m going to explode! My husband is the absolute worst. I don’t know what happens when food goes into his mouth but it sounds like a massacre! I can’t eat with him. Sometimes I have to though, it nausiates me so.I can’t handle the sounds of animals licking, especially dogs! It enrages to the point i get violent and have to throw something or punch the wall. I’ve been this way since I was a teenager. I don’t know of anyone, relatives or friends that have this. All I can do is try to avoid people. I tell my husband he makes too much noise when eating, even breathing heavily while eating but still contiues to do it. People don’t understand and wonder what’s wrong with me.

  123. I totally understand! I have been told my entire life that I am crazy for hating certain noises.
    Knowing that soup will be served at a dinner that I’m attending almost sends me over the edge! I hate when people even use the words, slurp or sip.
    Annoying doesn’t even begin to explain the anger that I experience, especially when I’m in a situation that I cannot escape. I feel like screaming!
    It’s nice to know that if I’m crazy, I’m not alone ๐Ÿ™‚

  124. I am so reileved. People think that I am CRAZY! I thought I was the only person on planet who hated so many sounds specially slurping, chewing gum, snoring and the list goes on…:) I am glad that there is a name for my disorder. ๐Ÿ™‚
    I quit eating with my dad at really early age. If I saw him walking toward me something in his mouth I would leave the room. I don’t think I have the right to warn people when they make irritating noises but I really suffer from it. I do get sweat and my heart beat goes up, I want to pull my hair. I leave the area if I can. When I pick a seat at a movie theater I make sure that I won’t sit close to anyone who eats or chews gum (good luck). I change my seat during a movie. If I can’t, I get distracted and can’t enjoy the movie. ๐Ÿ™

  125. ok so my girlfriend has this an i have asthma so i breath hard an i chew really load growing up no one ever stoped me now its just habit an i feel so bad cuz it literally puts her in tears an i hate it when she cries an im getting better at it but some times she just has these days where she cant handle it even when we are not around each other for days ill txt her an she is so pissed of an her answer for it is the noise pissed her off an i try to lighten the mood but i just make it worse so i try to let her just be alone but i love this girl an my fav thing to do is talk to her but at times it pisses me off cuz i did nothing wrong but she cant stand me it has been three almost four years an we have a son together so ima deal with it forever very happily but can you crazys plz give me some tips on how to change the mood for her an make it easier on her it makes the relationship harder but shes just such an amazing person an i can not keep doing this to her i also have habits i do when i think like make a popping noise with my finger nails an it sends her threw the roof an shes so sweet cuz she knows i do it with out thinking so she deals with it an dose not say anything about it until she just cant take it an its like her evil twin came over for a visit an she brought weapons i just wish there was something i could do to take this from her i fear she will leave me if i cant stop

  126. Oh boy. Where to start. The sound of someone sipping orange juice…. makes me insane. Insane I tell you. Insane. Sipping other drinks a very close second… as in coffee, tea, hot or cold. Now let’s talk about chewing gum. Not only does it send me into crazy pissed off mode, it is just plain disgusting. When I see people chewing gum, I want to tell them they look like a cow chewing cud. I will turn away from checkout lines if the checkout person is chewing gum. It is a most disgusting habit… Then trying to talk to someone while they are chewing gum, fugitaboutit. In professional situations I will tell people to spit it out, and never do it again in my presence. And no, there is nothing redeeming about a cute young thing gum chewing and snapping while riding in an elevator. Now let’s get to thermal paper receipts. Sends me bonkers. I absolutely cannot stand the sound of crinkly paper, especially from receipt purchases. And now for the finale… the sound of hot pouring liquid. I dunno why, but the sound of hot water pouring from say a teapot… I have to calm myself down. There are more irrational, antisocial reactions to things, but these are paramount. People who mindlessly talk on their cell phones in public is a different kind of annoying as hell sound…. had to throw that in…. because I am NOT interested in being part of someone else’s convo, especially if they are chewing gum. Gum chewing gum snappers who are managing a checkout line handing me crinkly thermal paper, while they are sipping on their hot tea and trying to hold a conversation tho I don’t call it that ought to be fined with the words “you are a cow chewing cud” henna’d across their forehead.

  127. This is perfect! I had no idea this existed and I’ve experienced everything mentioned related to it! My brother chews especially loud and I am always annoying everyone around me by pointing it out. All those other noises have bothered me too and I didnt know it did other people too! Especially the repeatedly tapping a foot or fidgeting, OH MY GOSH nobody else notices it when someone is doing it, and it just freaks me out! I often have to leave rooms because I cant stand these things. And the thing about tinnitus too!! This is amazing because i know that i have it, and have no idea why i have it, but this makes sense! So glad i found this after just searching “why can i not stand people chewing”

  128. Wow I had no idea this existed and I’ve experienced everything mentioned related to it! I am always annoying everyone around me by pointing out people chewing. All those other noises have bothered me too and I didnt know it did other people too! Especially the repeatedly tapping a foot or fidgeting, OH MY GOSH nobody else notices it when someone is doing it, and it just freaks me out! I often have to leave rooms because I cant stand these things. And the thing about tinnitus too!! This is amazing because i know that i have it, and have no idea why i have it, but this makes sense! So glad i found this after just searching “why can i not stand people chewing”

  129. Someone at work is constantly crunching on nuts like a giant gerbil.

    Vegetarian type. All he eats is crunchy food and i am stuck with it even through headphones. Everyday without fail he will go through bags of crisps and nuts. Annoying.

  130. My blood boils when I hear even the faintest sound of chewing. My entire family always tells me to get over it and mature. Some nights I used to get so mad that at first I would just punch my pillows, but then I ended up punching walls until my knuckles would be in serious pain and in danger of injury. I have learned to cope with my rage by bench pressing large amounts whenever I get really upset, but from personal experience I know that there will never be a true cure for something so infuriating as the sound of chewing or swallowing for me

  131. Even when I was younger, I couldn’t stand the sounds that came out of my brothers mouth when he chewed. He would chew with his mouth shut, but he’d smack his food like a child eating peanut butter for he first time every time he ate. Whenever I asked him to stop, my parents would yell at me no matter how polite I tried to be. So I tried a more subtle response of eating my food like a pig as well. They also yelled at me for that. My brother would even call me out if I accidentally smacked even once. My parents never yelled at him. If I made a single face or made a single sound, my parents believed I was making fun of my brother. This led to me crying at various resturaunts, with them unable to understand why I was crying in the first place.
    Today, I can’t stand anyone’s chewing. My friend constantly chews with her mouth open, and if I call her out, she says she has a cold. Unless it’s possible to get a cold for every day of your life, I’m calling bs on that one. My father chews loudly, my brother chews louder than 20 pigs, a good majority of my friends chew like goats, and the only chewing I can stand is my own and my mothers. My mom actually knows how to chew properly.

    Chewing just gets on my nerves and I feel like I need to punch the person chewing in the face until he bleeds to death, but I can’t.

    “Officer he assaulted me first. It was self defense.” “How did he assault you?” “He almost made my ears bleed with his chewing!” Try telling that one to the police.

  132. Good to know it actually has a name. The list of sounds that make me go mad is long (chewing, snapping gum, finger tapping, teeth brushing, hearing someone pee because they don’t shut the door to the bathroom properly, etc).

    BUT the sound ice makes hitting the glass (when a person tries to get their drink cold enough) makes me want to punch them in the face.

  133. It always shocks me when I realize that I’m not the only one suffering with this. I’ve been dealing with noise anxiety my entire life and recently found out that it’s a real thing and I’m not just a b*tch. My family literally thought I just hated them because it was hard for me to be around them. They are a pretty loud crowd and have little manners when eating. Also they are all nail biters/pickers and drink slurpers. The list of things that “annoy” me (meaning make me want to punch a wall and scream) is endless. Right now I’m sitting in my living room and my roommates dog is snoring. I never thought I could be so angry at an animal but everytime I wake him up to stop the snoring, he starts repetitively licking his lips. I know it’s not his fault but it’s driving me insane and I just want to lock him in the basement. Something else I’ve realized is that it’s less irritating if the said noise is made by strangers than it is if it’s made by someone you know. ESPECIALLY If they know you have a hard time with certain noises and disregard your feelings. Needless to say, this misfortune of getting upset over noises has seriously impacted my life. I wish I didn’t have to deal with this. I’m an anxious, depressed mess and I believe it all started with the noises. I dream about what it would be like to not have to focus on something that makes you want to rip your hair out like everyone else. It sounds so peaceful to not have to hate sounds.

  134. jessica Sallagoity

    I am so glad that its not just me! I have been suffering from this for as long as I can remember. I have close friends and family tell me that they are scared to eat around me. I remember being in the movie theater growing up and freaking out in my head when people would eat popcorn. My mom breathing loud drove me crazy. I feel myself staring in disgust at people eating. Loud music sometimes bother me. Brushing teeth. Poping knuckles. People eating on tv bothers me. I hate feeling this way. I come off as such a moody biatch. Im not at all. I always say I wish I bothered myself then maybe id be thin. Lol. It really does put stress on all the relationships I have in my life!

  135. OMG MY MUM IS THE LOUDEST CHEWER ON EARTH!!@#$&*^$$ Lets just say my bedroom door is closed and i can still hear her in the living room eating a carrot! Its terrible when she`s eating grains and hard vegetables, especially toast-I can hear her glands process the food. When she`s eating she opens and closes her mouth like a codfish while breathing heavily like she`s been running a marathon. She then does this weird thing with her mouth where she stretches her mouth sideways so she can rid of the food in her teeth. I tried telling her twice but-especially because she`s always hormonal-she gets all defensive and denies it. I know it may seem rude to point out flaws, doesn’t help when my sister stops me, but she needs to know! Plus she`s sitting right next to me eating a STINKING CARROT! I need my own place ๐Ÿ™ It has nothing to do with sensitivity to various sounds or easily getting irritated, my sister agrees that she is a very loud chewer. I cant stand sitting next to her, especially in enclosed spaces like the car when she`s eating another hard food substance. I feel bad posting this on account of the fact I`m worried mum will somehow see this, but right now i am SO irritated.

  136. I am so glad I found this! EVERY meal I have with my family I either have to leave or cover my ears! I found that chewing gum helps as I really HATE mouth noises like chewing, swallowing and slurping. It drives me absolutely nuts and I’m so glad I’m not the only one!

  137. I like chewing gum as it drowns out other noises!

  138. I’m a full time college student and it seems like in every class there are a handful of people snacking. Whether it be a morning, afternoon, or night class I can’t seem to be able to get away from the sound of people eating. It’s extremely distracting when I’m trying to pay attention to the professor or anything for that matter. I cannot eat at the dinner table with my family, and there are only a few friends I can eat around (including my boyfriend). I tell people about it and the shove it off like it’s no big deal. I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one, I just I could mute the universe occasionally.

  139. I have a bunch of things that I get worked up over. chewing gum, chewing food ( yes they are separate), typing, clicking a pen, my dad talking when i’m not in the conversation, breathing, biting fingernails, tapping anything, humming( I can’t stand this one). for me i just tend to avoid the movie theater (I haven’t gone in 4 years), or other recitals/ concerts. If my sister is running late she has a greed to wait till we are out of the car to eat her food, but if she has to i will normally plug my ears. my dad talking I solve that by wearing earplugs a lot. Also the chewing thing actually does help. unfortunately I can’t concentrate on anything but he noise so white noise or background noise doesn’t help.

  140. I had to weigh my options the other day, life in prison or the satisfaction of murdering that fat b**** who would NOT stop scraping the bottom of her empty yogurt container.

    We were in the reading room of the Arlington County Public Library!

    I didnโ€™t say a word but that cow came very, very close to having her face stomped into gristle.

    • Bob…I feel your pain! I imagine it would be nice to one day live alone in the mountains where I could escape the chewing, slurping, smacking… but with my luck there would me a squirrel. bird or snake right outside my door chewing, slurping and smacking away like disgusting little heathens. ๐Ÿ™

  141. I don’ even know what to do anymore. It is EVERYTHING. I am like a prisoner in my own home. I feel like I am hiding all the time and irritated all the time because I cannot handle anybody eating. From chewing, slurping, eating ice, hitting the plate with their silverware, bags rustling, LICKING OR SUCKING THEIR FINGERS (OMG WORST), etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on and on. My poor husband can’t even brush his teeth in front of me. The anger and rage that develops inside of me is just wrong!! I cannot control it. I have to walk away so I am not a constant bitch. It has been like this since I was little and I am now in my 40’s. My family used to tease me and all start chewing loud at the table at the same time. It goes beyond eating: clicking pens, filing nails, brushing teeth, sniffing, picking toenails/fingernails, etc. I have to sleep with a fan on always. The white noise app on my phone has saved me!! Do I need to go see a shrink?? I feel like it is only getting worse and my loved ones are getting the worst of it because they are around me the most. Help!!!

    • I forgot to mention the rage I feel in movie theaters โ€ฆโ€ฆ popcorn, ice, rustling of wrappers, talking, chewing, feet tapping, ugh!!! This lady was filing her nails next to me once and I thought I was going to die. Instead of saying things now I just remove myself from the situation, always walking away into another room. Or turning the TV/radio up really loud. Does anybody else feel it is as bad as me??? I am reaching out for any feedback and suggestions before it ruins my marriage.

      • I don’t have any suggestions, but I can tell you that you aren’t alone! My husband and I fight quite a bit because I become so enraged by the slightest sound of smacking, licking, slurping (which he does alot), sneezing, coughing, basically any mouth noises, clicking pens, etc. He says I’m childish and need to knock it off. That sets me off and the fight escalates everytime. I feel like I need mental help sometimes, and much like you, I’m afraid one of these days he will get fed up with all my “bitching” and rage and divorce me! Ugh. This sucks.

  142. I have had this since as far back as I can remember. I’m a 27 year old and my brother, who is 32, also has it. Smacking is the WORST. I never knew there was actually a name for this until a few months ago. My husband always tells me I’m acting like a 5 year old when I get infuriated by noises he makes. I cannot stand when he sneezes, especially if it is more than once, and it ALWAYS is. Also, I work with a handicapped boy who is almost constantly smacking. I’ve had to learn to keep my rage at bay with him because I know he can’t help it. However, that has not stopped me from having some terrible thoughts! I’m pretty sure I have a severe case of misophonia. Oh, and I always make my dog stop linking herself and my husband gets mad and yet again tells me I’m acting like a child. #SUPERANNOYED.

  143. OK …this is a really big problem for me…so glad to see that i am not the only crazy person in the world. Bit of advise: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER tell anyone that you have this issue. I told my family in hopes that they would be understanding and try to be better “chewers”. Nope, they all looked at me like I was crazy and then told me that I have serious “issues”. AND their smacking, chewing and slurping got MUCH worse! Honestly it makes me want to kill someone so that i could get locked up for life and be all alone in a tiny cell (maybe solitary confinement or something) so that i could escape these noises that HAUNT me. But with my luck the person in the cell next to me would be a loud smacker/chewer/slurper and it would echo and drive insane. The other day I was at Costco and i noticed that they now have a section that sells hearing aids so I went over to the lady and asked her if they had a reverse hearing aid …she said I don’t understand…i explained that my hearing is way too good and that I hear things differently than others and that i wanted something that could muffle or tone down my hearing….the look on her face…bless her heart…I said never mind and walked away! With all the technology and inventions and crap that people make millions off of the suffering of others…why can’t someone engineer a reverse hearing aid??? I would gladly pay a grand for such a device. Anyway, it does help to know that I am not the only one who suffers. I will be truly happy when I have a log cabin in the mountains living alone with NO ONE around me to chew, slurp or smack…don’t get me started on if someone lets their metal spoon clank against their bowl while eating ice cream or cereal, just shove a knife in my back and call it a day!!!

    • …tragically I have TMJ so every time I chew my jaw pops.. ๐Ÿ˜ฎ … ??? …cruel twist of fate… ๐Ÿ™

    • Ever tried ear plugs???

    • Ever tried ear plugs??? Or head phones

      • Yes I have…I will go to my room and put on AOSafety Peltor Bulls Eye 9 Hearing Protectors (they are for when you go to the shooting range) …they work well but I look weird with them on…lol. I have also tried the ear plugs too. But these things only help when I want to block out all sound. Sometimes i am waching tv and if I put the earplugs in it does not help because then I cannot hear the tv. Thank you for your suggestion though Nateโ˜บ

  144. I just googled this and found your site. Yes! My family thinks I’m nuts, but I KNEW I wasn’t alone. Right now, I’m sitting on the floor in a non-waiting room due to this lady in the waiting room chewing her gum worse than a cow chewing cud and I heard this OVER the warning test on the TV while sitting less than 2 feet from said TV. UGH! But yeah, I taught my kids manners – the hubs? He has acquired bad manners and it would’ve been a deal breaker had he been like this while dating – no lie. Yep…I’m nuts and PROUD of it!

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  146. The only way I seem to be able to keep it under wraps is if I myself am making noise or have my headphones in. Constantly take them with me wherever I go to drown out the noise of others eating etc. I get that agitated sometimes that I sweat in my palms, scrunch my toes up and feel like peeing myself. A bit strange, this all accompanies the whole rage mode where i just feel like hurting people -_- !! To make things worse i’m in the Army and some of the people eat like absolute pigs with their mouths open! The amount of patience I have gained from this is unreal but I just wish there was some actual way of stopping it *sigh*

    I also told my family and they started to do it on purpose, just to wind me up!

  147. Ugh, I have no where to go. I want to lay on my comfy temperpedic bed and then someone comes into my room and crunches. It drives me nuts. I control myself but inside I am enraged. I don’t do crunching. I am considerate of their feelings but I am suffering in silence.

  148. Oh my god. Listening to someone chew with their mouth open drives me fucking insane. It also makes my penis twitch like I’m turned on for some god forsaken reason lol. Strange to hate something and your body gets aroused by it at the same time… :/

    • That’s hilarious! I’m definitely only angry when I hear the annoying sounds – never aroused ๐Ÿ™‚

  149. I’m a humble person and it takes alot to get me mad, except one thing, burping. The sound/visual of someone belching or burping drives me into an immense rage on the inside for minutes or even a few hours, If the person keeps on doing it, and by this time I usually relocate because I start to show signs of aggression and anger and might explode. It’s absolutely the most nastiest thing in the world and I literally want to kung-fu tiger style rip that persons throat out so they can never burp again. I’m glad that I now know what to call my condition and inform people so they know that I’m not Bullshitting.

  150. I despise chewing sounds, especially when people chew gum with their mouth open and I hear spit sloshing. Even worse I hate hearing someone eat a bag of chips and the sound of the plastic bags and their hands digging for chips.

  151. It drives me up the wall to hear some smack with their food. It makes me go insane and i yell at them.

  152. It all depends on how loud the person is chewing as well. When the person eats continuously with their mouth open; smacking, slurping, gnawing, etc so loud that you can’t hear the TV over it when cranked almost all the way up, I’d say it’s something different. I’ve heard horses quieter than that. I’m at a point to where I’m continuously getting migraines from it.

  153. Ugh, my little brother chews SO LOUD – I mean its absolutely insane! It drives me crazy! If I tell him to close his mouth; I get in trouble ._.
    And it doesn’t help when my other siblings chow too – I think I need to just tell them it drives me crazy, although they should already know from my actions and facial expressions.
    Would strapping their mouths shut while eating help? Good I’ll do that then.

  154. IM SO RELIEVED THAT IM NOT THE ONLY ONE!! I’ve literally just started balling bcuz people purposely chew loud to piss me off. I try so hard to meditate and do deep breathing exercises, and everyone just says im mentally weak and i need to get over it, but its a real thing!! You have no idea how glad i am… Thanks for the tips to getting over it!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!!XD

  155. I am sooo glad I’m not crazy and this is something a lot of other people experience too.

    Ticking clocks, clicking pens, foot-tapping, people: flossing their teeth, breathing heavily and/or loudly, swallowing liquids, snoring, and eating/chewing are the things that bug me the most. Those things nearly compel me to murder. Even thinking about them pisses me off, especially the sound of people eating and chewing, and ESPECIALLY when they’re talking too.
    It takes every ounce of my willpower to /not/ tell the person speaking to me to chew and swallow their food before I strangle them.
    And I’m always letting my boyfriend know that he’s chewing loudly and smacking (even when he’s not talking)… And when the noises continue, I have to leave the room or else I’ll have a meltdown and lose my shit, yelling and the whole bit.
    This is also the reason I remove myself from the break room at work when a coworker comes in to eat something (unless I have my ear-buds and enough time to inconspicuously ignore said person with music).

    I’ve hated snoring and ticking clocks as far back as I can remember, since I was really young. I literally can NOT sleep when someone is snoring. It will wake me up and I’ll wake you up to let you know, and I can’t be nice about it because I’m wide-awake now and mad.
    And I’ve never been able to sleep when the ticking of a clock is audible, or even sit in the same room as one even in the middle of the day. There are no ticking clocks in my home. (:

    Thanks for writing this article, really a great read and its reassuring! I’ll be trying the background noise idea more often, and I’m already practicing retreating from the noises that trigger me. Cheers!

  156. OMG, I thought I was the only one in the world. I’m so happy to see it having a name. I lost friends over this. I got in fights with my mom. I cried when my grandfather was chewing so loud.

    I think it has to do with people who are also really good with music. It’s a level of sensitivity in the brain. It has to do with the same response mothers get from a crying baby. It’s a fight or flight mechanism. Our brains are good at detecting 20% changes to keep us alive. Visual or auditory. It’s an inherited trait from our distant ancestors.

    Whenever someone does this repeatedly, we want to silence that noise to bring safety once again, so we react to silence the troubling noise.

    Of anyone else can get me feedback on this, that would be great.

  157. All the things mentioned in your article drive me up the wall! The very worst noise that gets me is someone clacking a piece of hard candy or a cough drop against their dentures. I get so angry I want to punch them in the face! I married into a large family of ice crunchers-I just have to leave the room! To further confirm I have this my ears ring loudly 24/7!

  158. I am the same way but I am 11 and my mom chews sooooo loud it is crazy I get super mad one time I asked her to chew softer and she said she cant I got so mad that I yelled at her then left the room

  159. It is a huge relief to have other people experience the instant anger over sounds. I found this post because I felt bad over the rush of anger I just had when hubby ate a granola bar beside me. The room was quiet, and all I could hear was him chewing AND swallowing! *Chew chew chew GUUULP* Errghhhh!

    And then his breathing seemed awfully loud too. He thinks I have a problem, but now I know I’m not alone. Misophonias unite!

    Oh, and the other sound I can’t stand is hearing is when he flosses. Ugh.

  160. Ok,I know I’m crazy, but not that crazy! (insert humor) Thank you for this blog. It helped me learn I am not alone in this! I have a weird one, anytime I hear someone with false teeth talk, the whistling sounds makes me all but flip out! It’s been going on since I was a kid, now I get it! I just start singing a song in my head to not hear the sound. Also can’t stand white noises or any type of “forced” air on me. What is up with that?

  161. In desperation I searched the Internet for clues as to why certain sounds send me into such a rage. Is it just me or is the girl sitting next to me at work crunching ice all day, rattling food wrappers and munching on chips being incredibly rude. I started crying when I found this site. Although living with my husband’s horrible allergies for 20 years, a loud talker and giggled at work for 5 and now the ice cruncher and paper rattler has put me in a dangerous place that may require medication to handle. Should you be allowed to chew ice at your desk at work? It doesn’t seem so to me but it doesn’t seem to bother anyone else, although the girl sitting on her other side has told her she sounds like a horse. But it is an incredibly real and horrible problem for me!

  162. Loud chewers, slurpers, eaters should not be allowed to reproduce.. jk…drives me craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasaaaaasaassssssszy!

  163. I simply correct people. If they think me an a$$…tough. I think them a jackass for never thinking of others. I dont want to,hear someone smack, slurp, or grind ip their food anymore than they want to hear mine exit the drought. It sends me into an intense rage, always has. I remember being annoyed and asking other eight year olds why their parents hadnt taught them this basic life lesson: No one wants to hear your spit smack.

  164. I simply correct people. If they think me an a@@? tough. I think them a jackass for never thinking of others. I dont want to,hear someone smack, slurp, or grind ip their food anymore than they want to hear mine exit the drought. It sends me into an intense rage, always has. I remember being annoyed and asking other eight year olds why their parents hadnt taught them this basic life lesson: No one wants to hear your spit smack.

  165. I hate the high pitched squeaking from door hinges and shoes on the basketball court. At the library they have a cart for reshelving books. Its been squeaking for the last 2 months and they won’t oil it! Am seriously thinking of bringing some WD-40 with me.

  166. Hearing someone chewing or gulping a drink DRIVES ME WILD. Also anyone who breathes noisily. People who exhail loudly through their nose makes .e want to break their nose.
    I too thought that I was the only one suffering with this problem and I’m pleased to hear I’m not. In fact listening to everybody else has me in fits of laughter cos I know very well what they are going through.

  167. the way my wife in her seperate (tv?) room feeds ever so slowly potato crisps into her cavernous gob drives me nuts, it as if her head resonates / amplifies …. and I want to shout …. “Get the fckng things down”…..

    the slowest collapsing, the slowest crunching ultra irritates me … but then agn 95% of the time she does anyway ….

    after so many years of “fck off and die” from her….. her favourte riposte from the 2ks ….. other than my garden and this nice house why am i still here ??

  168. Yespecially the ringing in ear thing I do get that alot when I’m sitting there and people are too quiet or something it just constant ringing and I can’t stand it. I always nag my sister for chewing biting nails and even heavily breathing or the sounds of there smart phones I think I have this big time

  169. Yes it drives me up a wall and I either fly off the handle or leave when I ca grrrrrr

  170. I have the same problem. Hearing someone chew their food drives me insane. I try to ignore it but it seems to be impossible. Sometimes I try turning up the tv or playing music but it seems like if I hear even the slightest smacking sound I get enraged. I know it sounds silly but I can’t seem to help it. I end up having to leave the room to calm down. It seems really ridiculous to get mad over something so simple. I mean people have to eat.

  171. my mom chews out loud and you can hear the food mushing around, i feel like throwing something or yelling to make matters worse i have anger issues and its only getting worse i feel its getting worse the more i grow up and i’m only 15.

  172. I am so relieved to read this! I have had a problem since a very young age – I cannot stand it if people eat and I can hear them chew. Crunchy food, that horrible squelchy, wet mud sound in the back of people’s mouths when they chew too “vigorously”, chewing gum (Hate hate hate), bananas etc etc. I also cannot stand listening to my 12 year old drinking and when my mum drinks tea or anything hot, it sounds like the liquid is falling into a hollow bottomless pit. I also cannot stand if people tap their fingers against something. I have left dvd stores before if people stand and tap their fingers on the dvd’s while looking for more movies. My mother taps her fingers on the car window when we are doing road trips to point out things like cows etc to the kids! I love her dearly, but dammit! Stop doing that thing! I am 45 and it is getting worse! My partner and I had a huge fight when driving, because I asked him to take the chewing gum out of his mouth! He said that I tolerate our young son eating open mouthed so why can he not even chew. Funny thing that – my son is still 5 and eats like a 5 year old boy – I can tolerate him eating though….not sure for how long! This is really a problem. I leave the room when people eat, cannot watch tv with my partner who cannot sit down without raiding the pantry and chomping non-stop. It puts me in such a rage, that I feel quite violent and angry! How crazy is this! I actually think my blood pressure goes up when people eat anywhere near me. At university I had a friend who chewed gum all the time – I could not study anywhere near her. It drove me insane! Goodness – how crazy is this! Otherwise I like to think I am an intelligent, normal person haha.

  173. I’ve been suffering from this issue all my life and I hate it. What works for me ( especially when in class ) I wear earplugs and tape record my instructors. Everything else I just deal with it and or leave the room etc…I’m glad that Kelly Ripa has shared her experiences. I thought I was alone and crazy at times.

  174. OhMyStopSmacking!

    Wow, I’m relieved to hear some one’s story! My husband, who I normally find adorable, was sitting across me chewing down the SEEDS in his strawberries and spiteful inner remarks boiled immediately in my head. In high school I adored my best friend until she would start eating PRETZELS during lecture. I find myself judging gum chewers sitting next to me in airplanes, nose snifflers (not a word…) during an exam. I judge myself for being so intolerable that I am relieved to find the humor and normal weirdness in it. It’s a crazy world and it’s because WE are crazy!

  175. I just finally got around to googling
    Why I feel like a complete murdering psychopath when people eat. I am so glad that I am not alone! But oddly it doesn’t bug me a bit when dogs eat. In fact I find it pleasant and calming. And that guy chomping on food across the room that made me google this just now better quit with that snorting or I might just loose it! What sucks about it is if I say anything I am the bad guy.

    • plzShutUrEffingMouth

      lmfao…when I saw “snorting” I died laughing…I am in the same situation…my dog can lick himself LOUDLY and it does not bother me in the least, however if it is my mom or dad…forget about it cuz my acute downward spiral into the abyss known as my reality starts and I want to hurt someone…strangely I think that my family does it on purpose to make me feel crazy…I run to my room shut the door put on the tv or put on my noise cancelling ear thingys but nothing helps me…I have this website saved as one of my bookmarks on FireFox so I quickly find this website (each time) and write stuff and read other ppls entries of which I have already read a trillion times…but it calmly puts me back in working order and the urge to hurt myself/someone else subsides (a little)…anyway blah blah blah blah…I’m a rambler :/

  176. Thank goodness I’m not alone. I cannot stand the sound of people eating, especially if the metal utensil hits their teeth, OMG just thinking about someone biting a spoon makes me crazy! My coworker smacks her food and bites her spoon so loudly I have to leave my desk. I know this is my problem and not hers but seriously get some manners! Doesn’t that hurt your teeth when it hits?!? The thought of it hurts mine.

    Snoring, sniffing, snorting, chewing, smacking, slurping…these are all triggers for me. Along with tapping or any other repetitive noise. I feel bad for my family because it makes me so angry that I can’t be near them.

    Not sure if this is part of the same issue, but I can feel pain just by watching someone else get hurt on TV or in real life. Watching someone break a leg on TV makes my leg hurt so badly I’m sure mine is near broken too. Am I just overly sensitive?

    aaaarrrggghhh!

  177. The sound of anyone chewing and espciallly the eating noises my bf’s dog makes (down to the 10 solid minutes of just fucking licking of his lips he does after he’s done) DRIVES ME INTO THE WALL. You mentioned how bad it can be. I think I’m at worst possible case. It’s gotten so bad I imagine killing the dog. It’s causing problems in my relationship and other parts of my life as well. People don’t understand that it’s a real thing and sometimes I just wanna end my life bc if how frustrating of a problem it is. So please if anyone knows of anything I can do to help it please comment back. I’m desperate.

  178. i am working in an office with a colleague of mine who chews loud, eats sugar coated canes, candies all day long, play with metal objects, and make sounds i don’t know even from where they are coming out, even tries to suck something from his mouth using his tongue, i can’t listen to music all day long, i have to concentrate to work, i am a programmer… any hep i would appreciate. Iโ€™m desperate.

    • Man I feel your pain! Cube worker over here, and I find that most of the time, I can’t just constantly be asking people to be quiet. I worked up the nerve to ask my coworker this week to stop clacking/sucking on a plastic spoon he had taken a liking to for a few days. Fortunately, he realized what he was doing and stopped.

      It may have helped that I framed what I was asking humorously (but not too humorously), and put it in the context that it was distracting me. Beyond that, hopefully you have the opportunity to take breaks at strategic times, or work from a different spot or something. Good luck!

  179. It drives me batty, and sometimes i yell at my husband for doing this, but the bathroom vent constantly running is driving me crazy. Talking while I’m trying to relax and have me time, no kids, no husband. Spitting sounds, popping wrists/bones excessively over and over again, praising movies to explain the movie just to hear yourself talk, like I’m stupid. Smacking, different noises set me off. At first i thought i was going crazy and tried to ignore it. I hear a really high pitched ringing Frequently.

  180. Thank god it’s not just me. Loud eaters, heavy breathing, finger-tapping! Arghhh! Still haven’t learnt to block it out and don’t think I’d go as far as saying it’s Misophonia – maybe just easily-irritated?!! Oh dear.

  181. I am astonished to read that this is an issue many people have, so much so that they’ve started having an official name for it. I have long had this problem, cannot stand hearing others making eating noises – I remember once clinching my fists and thinking of hitting the person seated next to me. I always thought it was just me, so to hear so many other people have this problem somehow is relieving. Misery loves company, I guess. ๐Ÿ™‚

  182. Oh, good grief, I am so glad I found this article!!! SOOO many people like ME! I thought I was jus an above-average grumpy person! So many sounds just drive me out of my tree, bat-crap crazy and I reallyreally do try hard to keep my mouth shut and not say anything, but every now and then, I can’t handle it and lose my temper. Of, course, I ALWAYS feel like a jerk afterward (sigh). Just glad to see I’m not alone and it has a NAME. thank you! btw, that article was funny! THANK YOU

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  184. my parents are the worst, especially my dad…..i cant even find an animal that eats the way he does…..he is always smacking his lips and he f*&%$ng slurps up rice like hes eating spaghetti the way a bratty little kid does…..f*&%#ing rice!!!! how hard is it to put it in your mouth and just chew with your mouth closed?!? ugggghhhh….needless to say i dont eat with my parents, even at thanksgiving, unless theres plenty of people over…..if its just us, i stay far away from them when they eat, how bad it is for me, i swear it raises my blood pressure…im glad im not the only one, i thought it was just me who had this pet peeve

  185. I am currently sitting beside my wife working on the laptop, and she is crunching on a bag of potato chips. I have in soft-foam earplugs, like you would wear in a factory, that I have specifically for this reason. I CANNOT STAND PEOPLE CRUNCHING FOOD!!! Or slurping anything, usually soup. AAAAAH! I even get annoyed when I hear myself eating something (maybe not so much that one – I could lose about a truck tire from my waist) but not so bad. Never knew this was a disorder…I don’t get enraged, just annoyed. If I got enraged, that would be quite scary. SO, everyone enjoy your chips, just in the next state, please! ๐Ÿ™‚

  186. My people! I am not alone! I just threw a box of crackers into a wall because I could not stand the sounds coming from hubby as he ate them. They are banned now. GUM is evil and also banned. I have always felt so badly that I hate, HATE these sounds. I tested for the gene that may be linked to this over sensitivity and also have tinnitus (common apparently with this).

    Thanks for the great laugh and letting folks know they are not alone.

  187. I didn’t even know this was a condition, I just thought I was being selfish. I remember years ago I used to tell my mum to ‘stop breathing’ because it really annoyed me, and she was sed to tell me off because it was rude, and now years on I still hate the sound. About a year or two ago I found out that I hate the sound of people chewing, and tonight I found out that I can’t stand the sound of me chewing either. It’s crazy, and I hate it.

  188. I have two co-workers that constantly eat chips all day and just crunch away. I can’t away from my desk since I work on the phone. It drives me fucking insane!! I am wondering when I am going to lose it. Crunch crunch crunch ALL FUCKING DAY!! OMG.

  189. We live in an apartment where you can hear their kids screaming and crying sometimes for hours. You can hear her yell at them and cupboards slam. I feel I’m about to lose it so I go take a drive or go outside. It’s so crazy because I thought I was just being overly sensitive. I didn’t know there was a name to it. Chewing, slurping, and my husband cracking is neck, feet and fingers almost drives me over the edge too!! LOL!!

  190. I have it bad! SInce childhood. I grew up forced at 5pm daily dinner schedule with the family. As a kid it would bring me to tears, silently and secret to avoid punishment of course. I was so digusted by the sounds, i couldn’t eat myself – which meant i had to stay at the table till bed time or my plate was clean. Cold med rare meat YUCK! Now as an adult, i have immediate RAGE – it scares me. I have a co worker that eats all day – grapes and apples are the worst. He even sucks his teeth after a sip/slurp of coffee – he is so foul. I literally want to rip his throat open with my teeth – although i do not want to hear the blood gurgling either. I wear ear plugs at soon as he pulls out his lunch bag. At home we don’t have family dinner. i cook, family eats where they please; just not around me. It works at home. Work is a different story, i try to leave the office as much as possible. I never meet people out for dinner/lunch etc…I find i do care for food in general. And i am not very found of people in general either. Good thing i am OK being alone. Some things just are. Good luck to all of you.

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  193. As I type this, my coworker is eating $%&$& chips with hot sauce. I want to reach over and wring her neck. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Crunch, crunch, crunch. On and on. I need to leave the room before I get violent.

  194. Totally annoyed

    I work in a call center and I have a group of people that sit behind me that literally eat ALL DAY long. I don’t know how they can chomp away and be so ^%$#@!& loud about it. Drives me INSANE! I hear wrappers open and I just brace myself cause I know its coming. Even hearing the spoon scrap across the bottom of a yogurt container drives me crazy. ๐Ÿ™

  195. HI, I suffer from this on the daily. the chewing noise irritates me so bad that I get angry and acid re-flux, it actually physically makes me ill. A dog licking him or herself is almost worse, there has been nothing that I have tried that actually works. I got up from Christmas dinner and ate inside by myself. It has gotten worse over the years and it drives me mad. I sure wish this was something that just went away. I have tinnitus very bad also and border line OCD. Tinnitus is bad enough, but the sounds that trigger me are worse. I am with a woman that smacks her lips when she eats, i have told her that it makes me crazy and she really tries to prevent it from happening. she is wonderful for understanding me and I try to let it go when she doesn’t realize that she is doing it. i sometimes think that she is doing it on purpose because of how loud it sounds to me, but I know better.

  196. i have it the same way!!!!! It is so bad, i want to crush everything and everyone around me. When people break for lunch i want to brake everything in sight. how the hell can they not hear what it is happening, it is as if they are eating inside my ear?……

  197. It is a psychological disorder, that is exactly what it is and there is no cure for it. drives me absolutely crazy and i offend people. Doesn’t help the fact that I am 6 Feet tall and Muscular….people are afraid to eat around me. I don’t blame them i become a lunatic!!!!!!!!

  198. OMG same my brother especially his mouth clicks while eatining and I just hate it well his mouth clicks at everything!!!๐Ÿ˜ก๐Ÿ˜ก๐Ÿ˜ก๐Ÿ˜ก๐Ÿ˜ก๐Ÿ˜ก๐Ÿ˜ก

  199. I am to the point I will just drive my car and tell them why since I have the problem I will not make them miserable. I will regard their freedom to smack and pop and slur, whatever or just entertain myself without them. My co-worker crushes ice how almost all day and I just have to get up an leave. My niece and my daughter and my son, sometime we all just wait to see who is going to snap first and usually I just get up and walk away. I have even tried to join the smackers and crunchers, but I only irritate myself. Clicking pen and pop gum I was told by a few it comes their nerves; so I am to be annoyed because it helps someone relax. Really

  200. I never knew it was a disorder but i only get really annoyed at my mums chewing it seems to be a particular kind of chewing that grinds my gears . i’m normally very considerate about my eating when in front of others. thinking aren’t people concerned about how loud they eat? glad im not alone

  201. crunch—-crunch—-crunch,crunch,crunch! I literally get so angry that I feel I could choke the life out of people. Potato chips, Doritos, Cheetos, Nachos, anything crispy or crunchy – the sound makes me want to slap the crap out of whoever is CRUNCHING: spouse, my children, other people’s children, preachers, teachers, and old people. It is worse than nails on a chalk board, teeth scraping on a fork, the dentist’s drill, teeth grinding and whining. Glad to know it’s a disease and not another one of my “issues.”

  202. My parents are both very. loud. eaters. You can tell my dad’s eating from all the way down the hall. They both also like to snack quite frequently, and they get mad at me when I ask them to close their mouths when they chew. My mom somehow manages to whistle-breathe while she’s chewing and it just makes me want to scream. I’m not trying to sound like a stereotypical whiny teenager, but they really just don’t understand…glad it has a name so I can actually tell them I’m not just being a brat.

  203. My roommate/office mate chews with her mouth open and then licks her lips and teeth after every bite and for minutes after she’s finished her food. I just hear her licking her teeth and lips constantly. Even when she takes a drink she lets out one of this “ahh” kinda sounds and smacks her lips. Not to mention the aggression she has when stabbing her fork/spoon into her meal and repeatedly scraping her meal container multiple times when nothing is left. I try to drown it out, I try to ignore it, but just stahppppp already!

  204. I’m like this. I know people eating and drinking shouldn’t annoy me. I get into a rage at people eating and drinking correctly so it’s not the manners off others that need sorted its this problem with me. I know 2 people who’s jaw makes a cracking sound every so often and I feel like breaking their jaw to fix this cracking noise but I usually just sit and get wirked up at these sounds. I’ve never said to anyone as I think it’s my problem not theirs. Like how can I say can u drink that quieter or can u sort that cracking noise out when I feel like going into a rage. It certainly wouldn’t come out quietly as I’m ready to explode.

  205. Thank goodness for you people. I’ve had people thinking I am absolutely crazy. Slurping when a beverage is too hot to actually drink …well I have to admit that I once slapped a coffee out of someone’s hand. My biggest bugaboo is people who “chomp”. I have asked doctors, dentists, you name it WHY some people sound like a horse chomping a carrot or apple. No one can tell me. I am OC so I’m guessing that this may be worse for me but in all honesty nothing drives me into a blind rage like chomping. Thanks for the tip about having other noise going on. I’ll try that but even in a restaurant I could hear my husband chomping. My blood pressure goes through the roof. I’m always snarling that I don’t do that so why do YOU do that!

  206. My step sister used to tell me she couldn’t stand eating with me because I was smacking. I was always trying my best to chew veery slowly, kept my mouth always shut, but that didn’t help.

    Now 15 years later, I myself suddenly started freaking out about my husband’s eating loudly, breathing out with a sound when drinking, and making a strange noise after he sneezes. And (o horror) after 4 years together, he suddenly started snoring, just a little bit, just enough to never let me fall asleep. And we live in a studio apartment, so there is virtually nowhere to hide.

    Hmm, I never thought I’d say that, but it looks like I’m living in my small personal hell and it is getting worse. I still can stand eating with others for some reason, maybe because there are more noises covering the sounds up when I’m in social situations. Found the Mesophonia article on wikipedia — it says that is not even a condition. Sounds like a very stupid and very sad story for me ๐Ÿ™

  207. Oh my goodness I didn’t realize this was a real condition, my sister’s chewing has always bothered me so much!!

  208. Hi,
    Does anyone share an office with you that knows you don’t like eating chewing noises but seems to like winding you about. They know it bothers you but loves being a twaaaaaat about it.