🔗 Share this article Christmas Often Proves to Be a Terrifying Experience for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity. Through experience, sufferers discover ways to cope with their condition. One young woman anticipates spending time with her relatives during the festive period, but admits a primary method she'll cope is by using her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at the holiday meal. In her case, this time of year often feels like a notably tough season as the auditory triggers of people eating, drinking noisily and sniffling trigger extremely uncomfortable. "I get this wave of sudden panic, my every muscle will just freeze and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to somehow control these triggers." Lottie has lived with sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that causes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming". Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to certain sounds, especially noises coming from those around you. It is prevalent amongst adults. A study reported a significant portion of people suffer from it. Often it's noises connected to eating or drinking that cause distress, along with things like crunching, breathing, and pen clicking. 'Anxiety Inducing' Lottie says: "There are so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it. "My family are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a really big battle of managing my symptoms to make sure everyone else is happy." So it's obvious why the traditionally happy time of the year can rapidly become a source of agony for affected individuals. Noises that may be considered normal, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or enjoying festive food can trigger a powerful reaction that can even lead to them skipping events entirely. A 21-year-old student is planning strategies to get her through the holiday dinner. Jenna, a university student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity for over a decade, explains the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to get through dinner. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to avoid distressing triggers. She says her misophonia is more intense around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "difficult". "There's an expectation to socialize with family, and I want to, but it's draining. "It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel panicked and immediately start crying and then the stress response will take over. "It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's tough to describe if you haven't felt it." Several Strategies to Cope If you suffer then there are various strategies you can use to handle the situation, as suggested by specialists. Imagine an Alternative: Imagination is key. Attempt to link the particular sound causing distress with an unrelated image. As an illustration, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to help your brain learn that the sound affecting you poses no threat. Make it a Game: Have a bit of fun and turn the annoying sound into a game involving the source. As an example, if someone is eating noisily try mimicking the sound. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an willing part. And the competition element should help distract your brain and make you somewhat less sensitive. Create a Scenario: A further strategy is to try to fabricate an explanation about why the person making the noise is behaving that way. Imagine if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not in good health or are troubled. This approach is changing the meaning of the sound. Even though the sound remains identical, your understanding of it changes from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.
Through experience, sufferers discover ways to cope with their condition. One young woman anticipates spending time with her relatives during the festive period, but admits a primary method she'll cope is by using her noise-cancelling devices - particularly at the holiday meal. In her case, this time of year often feels like a notably tough season as the auditory triggers of people eating, drinking noisily and sniffling trigger extremely uncomfortable. "I get this wave of sudden panic, my every muscle will just freeze and it feels like I'm in peril, and I need to somehow control these triggers." Lottie has lived with sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that causes the festive season "incredibly overwhelming". Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to certain sounds, especially noises coming from those around you. It is prevalent amongst adults. A study reported a significant portion of people suffer from it. Often it's noises connected to eating or drinking that cause distress, along with things like crunching, breathing, and pen clicking. 'Anxiety Inducing' Lottie says: "There are so many different triggering sounds at Christmas and that can be anxiety inducing and make you dread it. "My family are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a really big battle of managing my symptoms to make sure everyone else is happy." So it's obvious why the traditionally happy time of the year can rapidly become a source of agony for affected individuals. Noises that may be considered normal, like someone drinking champagne, rustling a roll of wrapping paper, or enjoying festive food can trigger a powerful reaction that can even lead to them skipping events entirely. A 21-year-old student is planning strategies to get her through the holiday dinner. Jenna, a university student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity for over a decade, explains the approach she intends to use is to listen to music to get through dinner. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a different room to avoid distressing triggers. She says her misophonia is more intense around people she's most familiar with, so Christmas is always "difficult". "There's an expectation to socialize with family, and I want to, but it's draining. "It's like this uncontrollable anger comes over me, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel panicked and immediately start crying and then the stress response will take over. "It may seem as if I'm being unreasonable and melodramatic, but it's tough to describe if you haven't felt it." Several Strategies to Cope If you suffer then there are various strategies you can use to handle the situation, as suggested by specialists. Imagine an Alternative: Imagination is key. Attempt to link the particular sound causing distress with an unrelated image. As an illustration, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a sink draining water. By doing this is to help your brain learn that the sound affecting you poses no threat. Make it a Game: Have a bit of fun and turn the annoying sound into a game involving the source. As an example, if someone is eating noisily try mimicking the sound. By mimicking, rather than feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an willing part. And the competition element should help distract your brain and make you somewhat less sensitive. Create a Scenario: A further strategy is to try to fabricate an explanation about why the person making the noise is behaving that way. Imagine if someone was sniffing, it could be that they're not in good health or are troubled. This approach is changing the meaning of the sound. Even though the sound remains identical, your understanding of it changes from being annoying, to feeling a bit more accepting towards it.