Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.
A 23-year-old is looking forward to spending time with her loved ones during the festive period, but admits one of the only ways she'll endure is by relying on her hearing protection - particularly at Christmas dinner.
For her, the holidays is a notably tough time as the sounds of other people chewing, drinking noisily and nose-blowing make her feel intense distress.
"I experience this wave of instant dread, my every muscle will just tense up and it as though I'm in danger, and I need to manage these triggers."
Lottie has lived with misophonia from a young age and for her that makes the festive season "deeply taxing".
Misophonia is an intense sensitivity to certain sounds, particularly those coming from individuals.
The condition is widespread amongst adults. A study discovered almost one in five people suffer from it.
Typically it's sounds connected to bodily functions that lead to discomfort, including things like crunching, heavy breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.
A Source of Dread
The sufferer notes: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be stressful and make you want to avoid it.
"Those close to me are understanding, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a internal conflict of enduring my distress to make sure everyone else is happy."
So it's obvious why the traditionally happy period can quickly turn into a stressful ordeal for sufferers.
Triggers that may seem harmless, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a visceral feeling that can even lead to them avoiding social settings altogether.
The student, a university student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity for over a decade, states the approach she intends to use is to use headphones to get through dinner. On any other day, she would often retreat in a quiet area to minimize problematic noises.
She notes her condition is more pronounced around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "hard".
"People assume you to be around loved ones, and I desire to, but it's draining.
"The sensation is this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel anxious and immediately start crying and then panic will take over.
"It can come across as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's tough to describe without firsthand experience."
A Few Techniques to Manage
If you suffer then there are a few methods you can use to handle the situation, according to experts.
- Imagine a Different Scenario: Mental imagery is essential. Try to associate the specific noise bothering you with an unrelated image. So for example, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound affecting you isn't harmful.
- Try a Competition: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a game with the culprit. For instance, if someone is eating noisily attempt mimicking the sound. By mimicking, instead of feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an willing part. And the challenge should help shift your attention and make you a little less affected.
- Craft a Story: Another technique is to try to fabricate an explanation about why the person creating the sound is having to make that sound. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not feeling well or maybe they're upset. By doing this is changing the meaning of the sound. Even though the sound remains identical, your understanding of it moves from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
