Hi everyone! 👋

We're a team of students from UC Berkeley, TU Delft, and Monash University (Australia) participating in the European Innovation Academy.

We are researching a personalized solution that could selectively reduce overwhelming or triggering sounds for people with misophonia, autism, ADHD, sensory processing differences, and other forms of sound sensitivity, while preserving the sounds they actually want to hear.

Before building anything, we want to learn directly from people with lived experience. We don't want to make assumptions about what people need. We've also had the opportunity to connect with a Duke researcher studying misophonia, and we're combining community feedback with expert insights to help guide our work.

If you have 5 minutes, we'd be incredibly grateful if you could complete our survey:

👉 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeQRy5B02oUTlJk-tx4S-G98x9ULBC6VdYjJzCAylx868uiUg/viewform?usp=dialog

The questionnaire is completely anonymous, but if you'd be open to sharing more about your experiences, there's also an optional place to leave your email for a short conversation.

Your feedback will directly shape the direction of what we build, and we're truly grateful for any time you're willing to give us.

Thank you so much! 💙

Having to operate for 4+ hours and stand next to someone who is chewing and popping their gum the entire time makes me want to scream

I can't even describe how wound up I feel after

I do try to play the music as loud as possible but then the circulators sometimes get upset they can't hear when we ask for things

It is like theyre doing a challenge who can talk the loudest. Especially my family does this. It hurts so much holy sheet. Trust me you can tone down your volume and we'd still hear you perfectly fine💀💀

there are so many people in my office who smack their gum as well as pop as it as loud as they can. we have cubicles, and i seriously can hear various noises from mine on the other side of the room. i genuinely cannot handle it, i want to cry and scream at them. headphones aren’t authorized. what do i do?

Hi all!  I’m a doctoral student in clinical psychology conducting a research study on misophonia and close relationships, and I’m looking for participants.

The goal of this study is to better understand both the potential origins of misophonia and to examine how misophonia affects one’s interpersonal relationships.

Participation involves a one-time online survey (takes about 30 minutes) with questions about sound sensitivity, emotions, and relational experiences. There’s also an optional 45-minute follow-up interview for those who are interested.

You may be eligible if you:

·      Are 18 years of age or older

·      Are fluent in English

·      Experience misophonia symptoms related to specific sounds

·      Are not diagnosed with another auditory or neurological disorder (e.g., hyperacusis, hearing loss, tinnitus) that would better account for sound sensitivity symptoms

Participation is voluntary and confidential. Participants can enter a raffle to win a $50 Amazon gift card after completing the study.

If you’re interested, you can participate here:  https://baseline.campuslabs.com/liu/edcsm26summer

or you can email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) for more information.

Thanks so much for supporting misophonia research!

I’m new to this subreddit so I can imagine this has been discussed before, but I’m in my last year of uni now, hopefully moving onto graduate school, and would love to hear how others cope with classroom triggers.

I’ve known that I’ve had misophonia for almost 10 years now and honestly, the biggest game changer for me has just been the freedom of independence. Especially in university because I can listen to music in my earbuds to block sound as I please, and usually leave situations when I need to. This was NOT the case in high school and I had a very agonizing experience navigating coping with the disorder.

I do well in uni so it’s never such a big deal in the long run if I absolutely have to block out all sound in a lecture due to a trigger, and just pay attention to the slides or something, but sometimes it’s absolutely unavoidable and I’m basically useless in the class with the amount of stimulus avoidance I’m practicing. I would say that I’d absolutely excel if this weren’t a problem, and I’ve still had so much agony trying to avoid triggers.

For example, if 5 people are all sniffing, coughing, chewing on gum or something, or clearing their throats and I just have to turn up the volume in my airpods as loud as possible. But simultaneously, (and I think this is misokinesia for anyone that also has it) people are fidgeting in front of me, playing with or flipping their hair, or kicking their legs around, so I just have to sit back far enough in my chair so that my laptop covers the view in front of me. OR position my hand in front of my face or beside it so uncomfortably, as a last resort to block the visual trigger. It not only robs my experience of the lecture material and puts me behind, but it makes me physically uncomfortable. And I would say that this happens in like 40-60% of my lectures depending on class size/type and what semester it is, and what people attend the class.

I’ve tried to unlearn my reactions in the past and still attempt to expose myself to triggers to unlearn patterns, but this is something I have been so unsuccessful with handling in every scenario. And I’m so ashamed of my frustrations towards the triggers due to past social ridicule, that I’m reluctant to discuss additional accommodations with my professors. I’m just sick of this disorder putting me through agonizing distress during situations where I could be thriving otherwise. Has anyone else encountered this?

Would love to hear similar experiences or tips :)

To clarify it’s not the act of laughter that scares me but rather the sound if someones laughter is too loud I will excuse myself to take a breather alone. Will avoid watching certain things online if i know someones gonna laugh (worried about the sound.) I hate being this way it makes me feel like a freak. I have had it all of my life and it’s debilitating for me. I love a good laugh but certain laughter sounds trigger me to no end. Anyone else deal with this too. Idk what else to do about it. I have my coping mechanism’s but it doesn’t seem to work. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Comment font les gens pour parler en permanence ?! Des que je visite ma famille, c'est non stop. Et en plus, désolé de le dire mais ils racontent des choses tellement inintéresssantes. C'est surtout horrible parce que souvent ils parlent fort pendant des heures, parfois on dirait même qu'ils crient.

Ma mère : "oui mais c'est un son normal de discussion blablabla"

Non, vous n'avez pas besoin de hurler pour discuter. Et quand je suis chez ma famille leurs maisons résonnent et ils ont une mauvaise isolation. Une fois je leur ai juste demandé de parler moins fort et je me suis faite à moitié engueulée.

Bref, est-ce que les gens s'obligent vraiment à parler sans interruption ou est-ce qu'ils apprécient réellement ?

am i the only one who gets super triggered by people who yawn really vocally?? i'm talking super exaggerated, loud yawns, it's so unnecessary!! especially when it's CONSTANT. sleep properly pleaseeee!!!!😫

Every time they're on screen i try to tough it out but end up muting until their scene is over, which ruins the flow of the watch. I've been even hoping for them to be killed off already...

ETA I also can't help but be irked by their every action as a result. This sucks so much.

Hey everyone,

I have misophonia and lately I'm noticing again just how much it runs my daily life. For me it's mostly eating – the second someone next to me is smacking or chewing loudly, any chance of me being relaxed is gone. A whole shared meal turns into pure tension, and I just end up fixated on that one sound.

I'd love to know how it is for you:

• Which situation triggers your misophonia the most? (eating, the office, public transport, at home…?)
• If you could pick one sound to erase from your life forever, which would it be?
• And are there moments where it gets extra bad because you literally can't leave?

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one dealing with this – so it would honestly help to read how others cope. Thanks for sharing 🙏

If I hear someone talking with a vocal fry I have to walk away because it literally makes me angry. How do you deal when you’re forced to be around someone who does this??

Am I the only person who gets driven absolutely mad by babies crying in movies, shows etc. ?

I’m watching a 1970s BBC documentary about a beach town in England and 20% of the film has been babies SCREAMING and WAILING. I have the volume on the TV down and it’s like it’s mastered to be as loud and disturbing as possible.

This happens all the time, some tv show has a baby making guttural noises for long periods. I get that it’s on purpose but it immediately ruins something for me.

I was recently given an opportunity to have/request noise cancelling headphones for work.

My work has greatly reduced my tolerance to sounds/noises, the office tends to get quite loud and we have really small dividers, so you can just hear every conversation that's happening around.

Usually my method is to use my loop engage 2.0 earplugs and put the typical work headphones on top while blasting brown noise at max volume. I know it is not sustainable but it is my second best option since my equipment doesn't really allow for any substantial noise dampening.

My work does not involve calls, so I don't particularly care for audio quality, I mainly just want to be able to block out the sounds of everyone around me however possible.

I've seen a lot of recommendations for Sony XMs or Bose headphones, however for work I would need wired headphones preferably, wired/wireless would already be pushing it.

I'd still intend to layer the headphones over my loop so I'd be looking for over the ear headphones, I also have a budget of 150-200€.

Sorry if this is all a lot of information. Would anyone have any recommendations? Thanks in advance for the insight.

Some noises just set me off in anger. The sound of a dog licking itself. Anywhere on the body. I cannot stand that noise and I instantly get mad and make noise to get him to stop.

Some noises I can tolerate for a while such as heavy breathing. It’s horrible sitting next to a heavy breather in the movie theatre!

Some noises make me cringe almost in pain. Oddly, nails on a chalkboard doesn’t bother me but metal scraping metal or teeth really is intrusive! Who freaking uses their teeth against a fork when eating? Use your lips, people!

I’m sure theres more. =/

do loop earplugs work for you all? i need something that will help me, but i also don't want to wear headphones everywhere

I hate any sound a human makes. Chewing, talking, breathing, snoring etc. I thought it was just me. I felt like a horrible person.

I was not aware there was a term for it, but atleast now I dont feel insane. Its absolute hell living with 3 other people in a house and I cant wait to move out as soon as I am an adult.

It goes so far with me I am not able to go out with others and im home almost all the time. Please, how do you guys manage?

Just found this sub tonight and so happy to know I'm not the only one. I can't explain it to my family in a way that doesn't make me feel like they think I've lost it completely. It started when I had long haul COVID a few years back. I thought it had gotten better, but my husband and I have been dealing with a lot of financial and marital stress, and it's back with a vengeance, so I'm not sure if that could be triggering it again. It never fully went away, but it's definitely more noticeable now. I can't handle the sounds of food wrappers or paper bags. I will hear my husband or daughter opening wrappers, and it is so upsetting to me, and it feels like it goes on forever. I have what I feel like is irrational anger to the sound, and I can't control it. I'm going to try a Bluetooth headband with some pink or brown noise to see if that helps. Anyway, thanks for reading and letting me share my experience. Would love to hear how others cope with it.

I don’t know if this is related to my misophonia or not, but does anyone else experience “hearing” what sounds like muffled voices, like a radio or tv but you can’t make out what’s being said that seems to be coincided with electrical white or background noise like ac, fan, or furnace - then if the device is turned off it stops? Sometimes it can also sound like loud/heavy bass - I notice this more with my furnace.

Does anyone else feel physically violated after a trigger? Not just angry or anxious—I mean like your entire body rejects being touched. After a trigger I can’t stand clothes on my torso, blankets, or even light contact. It feels almost like a stranger is touching or tickling me. I know it sounds bizarre, but it’s one of the worst parts of misophonia for me.

I'm sharing a room with my flatmate and she knows that I get easily triggered by many sounds. Everytime she talks with someone and she's too loud, I'm asking her if she could be more quiet. But even if she's quiet, I still cannot handle it. Headphones don't help. Music doesn't help. Watching a funny video on YouTube doesn't help as well. I can't focus on anything and I can't bear with the rage I'm holding. It's physically and emotionally painful. I can't tell her to be even more quiet if she's already less noisy. I also don't want to ask her if she could just stop talking because I'm aware that misophonia is something that exists only in my head, so I don't want her to be apart of this struggle. I'm not the only one living here, she's also sharing the room. So I don't want to make her feel "limited" by me.

If anyone has a good advice, then please let me know. I'm under academic pressure and I need to focus on my studies, but it all keeps me distracted and annoyed all day.

For a few months I thought it was a random employee whistling and almost stopped shopping there (ok, being honest, I was furious and wanted to track them down personally). Then I saw it - it’s one of those robots. So someone, somewhere programmed this thing with intent to whistle intermittently. Just, why????

I was just at a late night showing for the odyssey and had to leave 30 minutes into the film. I was so excited about this movie for weeks and as a greek woman myself, this was extra special to me. People came in and sat on either side of me and chewed popcorn so loud and smacked their lips the whole movie I could barely stand it. Two men in front of me took phone calls twice! Then the girls behind us smacked their gum whole time. I was literally surrounded. It actually drove me to tears! I know I’m being dramatic, I kept apologizing to my husband for my reaction. 25 minutes into the film I realized I couldn’t do this for 2.5 more hours and that I barely understood what was happening in the film because my brain was so angry. I ended up getting a movie pass for future showings, so I’ll try going again when it’s less busy. It’s terrible because I love movies so much and going to the theaters especially, but it’s almost becoming impossible.