Misophonia: Why some of us can’t bear the sound of chewing

Instant Genius

It’s a scene many of us will have experienced: we’re at the cinema, the lights go down, the film begins and then suddenly the person behind us starts rustling a packet of sweets or noisily chomping on popcorn.

For most of us this is merely an annoyance and after a while we’re able to tune the sounds out and concentrate on enjoying the cinematic experience. But for some, it can be unbearable and engender feelings of distress, anger and even panic. These people are experiencing misophonia.

In this episode, we catch up with Dr Jane Gregory, a clinical psychologist and author of the book Sounds Like Misophonia: How to Stop Small Noises from Causing Extreme Reactions.

She tells us what’s going on in our brains when we experience a misophonic reaction, how it can trigger our fight or flight response and why it’s surprisingly common.

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