The Holiday Season Often Proves to Be a Terrifying Experience for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
A 23-year-old hopes for being with her family during the festive period, but admits a key strategy she'll endure is by relying on her hearing protection - especially during the main festive feast.
For the 23-year-old, the holidays often feels like a particularly difficult season as the auditory triggers of other people chewing, sipping loudly and breathing heavily make her feel profound anxiety.
"I experience this feeling of immediate anxiety, my whole body will just tighten and it seems as if I'm in peril, and I need to somehow control these triggers."
The individual has lived with misophonia since she was 16 and for her that makes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, especially noises made by individuals.
It is prevalent in the UK. Experts reported almost one in five people suffer from it.
Often it's noises linked to eating or drinking that lead to discomfort, along with things like chewing, breathing, and pen clicking.
Triggering Stress
Lottie says: "I face so many assorted problematic noises at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it.
"My family are understanding, but I'm very aware that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a really big battle of enduring my distress to ensure everyone else is happy."
So it's clear why the traditionally happy period can rapidly become a living nightmare for sufferers.
Sounds that may be considered normal, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, opening presents, or tucking into a Christmas dinner can cause a visceral feeling that can even cause them withdrawing from gatherings.
The student, a young adult, who has struggled with sound sensitivity since aged 10, states her strategy is to listen to music to cope. On any other day, she would often retreat in a different room to escape distressing triggers.
She explains her condition is worse around people she's closest to, so Christmas is always "challenging".
"There's an expectation to be around family, and I wish to, but it's exhausting on all levels.
"The sensation is this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel stressed and begin to weep and then the stress response will take over.
"To others it appears as if I'm being oversensitive and melodramatic, but it's difficult to convey without firsthand experience."
Several Strategies to Cope
If it's an issue then there are various strategies you can attempt to manage the situation, according to experts.
- Visualise an Alternative: Mental imagery is crucial. Attempt to link the specific noise causing distress with a neutral concept. As an illustration, try to envision someone's slurping is just a waterfall. The goal is to teach your brain that the sound triggering you is neutral.
- Use Humor: Use lightheartedness and turn the annoying sound into a challenge with the culprit. As an example, if someone is eating noisily have a go at mimicking the sound. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is an attack, you become an active participant. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you slightly more tolerant.
- Create a Scenario: One more method is to try to create a little story about the reason someone making the noise is having to make that sound. For example if someone was making a nasal sound, maybe they are not in good health or maybe they're upset. By doing this is re-framing the context of the sound. While the noise doesn't change, your understanding of it changes from being irritating, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.
