People Who Can’t Stand Hearing Others Chew Often Share These 5 Traits, According To Research
It's not just annoying. Your hatred of certain sounds might just be part of how your brain works.
Ollyy | Shutterstock For some, it's nails on a chalkboard — either the literal kind or the figurative kind. For others, it's people humming. And for scores of us, it's that one most hated sound of all: the sound of someone else chewing. It's always annoying to have to listen to someone chomping on popcorn at the movies like it's their last meal, but misophonia, an actual disorder in which people have extreme reactions to unpleasant sounds, goes deeper than annoyance. It turns out there's a reason why, and it's related to our brains.
For those with misophonia, those annoying sounds we all encounter now and then — slurping, snoring, tapping, even someone's breathing — can feel like they are slowly but surely driving us insane.
For me, I cannot and will not abide a ticking clock. If I'm ever a guest in your home, just know that the batteries are coming out the minute I can get away with it because the sound drives me slowly insane. I have my great-grandmother's broken heirloom clock from Finland, and when my aunt demanded to know why I haven't fixed it, I gave her a simple answer: I DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO IT. It can stay broken! Forever!
So what's the deal? Am I just a crank? Are people's disgusting lip-smacking and tongue noises when they chew just bad manners getting your goat? I mean, yes, they are (your parents should be jailed for not teaching you to chew with your mouth closed), but it turns out there's more to it than that.
Research has shown that those who self-report having misophonia were more likely to have genetic expressions associated with certain psychiatric disorders and certain neurological conditions. If you're ready to backhand anyone who eats an apple in your presence, you just might have one or more of the following.
1. PTSD
In a 2023 Dutch study, genetic analysis found a substantial correlation between those with genes that increase one's likelihood for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and misophonia. And intriguingly, this means that misophonia might actually be a treatable condition.
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One of the authors of the study, University of Amsterdam psychiatrist Dr. Dirk Smit, told PsyPost that "this means that genes that give a sensitivity to PTSD also increase the likelihood for misophonia, and that could point to a shared neurobiological system that affects both. And that could suggest that treatment techniques used for PTSD could also be used for misophonia." There is hope, chewing-sound haters!
2. Depression and anxiety
PTSD is, of course, a more extreme condition usually stemming from extreme trauma, but studies have found that you don't need to have survived something truly harrowing to be predisposed to misophonia.
And with 1 in 5 Americans experiencing depression and anxiety, it's easy to understand why so many of us seem to cringe at certain sounds as well. When your brain is already overtaxed, silence is sometimes the only thing that can bring a sense of relief. Your cubicle mate clicking their dang pen disrupts this entirely!
3. Worry, loneliness, or neuroticism from bottling up emotions
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Other studies on misophonia have found that those reporting the condition are also much more likely to internalize negative feelings instead of talking them through, dealing with them head-on, or seeking help. This is a natural inclination for many of us, but mental health professionals say it can be a key cause of conditions like anxiety and depression.
No surprise, then, that it is also linked to misophonia. A 2020 study, also co-authored by Dr. Smit, found that people who bottle up their emotions tend toward feelings of worry, loneliness, and neuroticism, as well as misophonia, which makes sense. Having to listen to that guy chomp on his gum like a cow can pretty easily drive you over the edge when you're already full of repressed emotions!
4. Guilt
Along with worry, loneliness, and neuroticism, another feeling that often results from pushing down your emotions is guilt. Perhaps most fascinating of all, it just may be one of the true linchpins for misophonia.
As Dr. Smit and his colleagues explained in their 2023 study, much of the research on misophonia argues that the condition "is based on the feelings of guilt about the evoked irritation and anger rather than behavioral expressions of anger itself."
That is, it's not so much the lady breathing heavily in the bus seat next to you that's driving you mad, so much as the guilt you feel for wanting to deck her into next week. (Which you should release yourself from, by the way. It's not your fault she breathes like a dang fog horn!)
5. Tinnitus
And finally, the most fascinating correlation of all: tinnitus, the neurological condition in which people hear a frequent or sometimes constant ringing, buzzing, hissing, or clicking in their ears. The condition is more of a symptom of other issues than it is a condition in and of itself, and it turns out it's the symptom that ties all these things together.
Depression, anxiety, and PTSD are all highly correlated with tinnitus, and tinnitus, in turn, is highly correlated with misophonia. And as someone with all five of these conditions, I am never apologizing for telling someone if they don't take the batteries out of that clock, I will burn their entire house down ever again. I have a CONDITION, okay? It's literally science!
John Sundholm is a writer, editor, and video personality with 20 years of experience in media and entertainment. He covers culture, mental health, and human interest topics.
