The sound of smacking when chewing....Ugh, I can hear it from a mile away! The instant I hear it I become instantly angry (at which point I will either leave the room or point out the animal-like noise and rant about how much I can't stand hearing it). It's like a knee jerk reaction I can't control - instant, jaw clenching anger. The same thing can be said about my youngest son's whining, it's the pitch or something. The way my significant other coughs is not loud, but it seriously hurts my ears. Am I the only one who has this problem?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia

Well - the past few weeks, 5am this morning included - I am going out of my mind because of a low bass hum coming from farm tractors in the valley behind my house. I can tell when they stop - and the past few days - its going 12hrs a day - and is killing me. There is no escaping it. Yesterday - I attempted going to my sons soccer playoff game - and it was a disaster for me - The people near me yelling, and there negative comments. It was outdoors and the perfume from someone was killing me - and before I could get away from that - my 70+ mother in law decides to plant herself next to me - an avid gum cracker - mouth wide open, and her perfume - holy mackeral - this is outside - I ended up not being able to breath, or cope - and left the game - no explainations because she would get offended and on and on. My life, especially because of smells, and sounds is a torture. I coped in the past with sedatives, ADD medication, and drinking - all of which I no longer do, and its pure torture. I want to move from the farm behind my house so bad to a secluded country place - and just maintain myself, with my kids the best I can. Ugh sorry, but yesterday was one of the worst days I have had since about May. Anger, is becoming depression, and isolation for me. My options thus far to block things are not possible. When my husband sneezes I want to punch him - same when he eats - anything - my youngest has SPD too, so he is quicker to stop when I tell him, because he understands it. I cant wear earplugs, or head phones and am at a loss - feel like I need to go deaf for this to ever end, and I wish a sinus cold would stop my sense of smell. That has not happened for 4 years. Its ridiculous to want to be unable to smell and hear right? Even when I think that is ludacris to think - the constant negative impact is far out waying the good things that I will miss! stacey

I CANNOT stand open mouth chewing! My older son does it all the time and it just makes me so mad. I don't know what it is about that. It is so gross!

Jillybean, you are NOT alone. I react almost instantly to certain pitches and noises.

Oh Lordy does open mouth chewing anger me!!! Pretty much any and all human-specific noises make me incredibly angry. I think because usually it's considered rude to mention it, so you've had to sit and stew in pure torture listening to/ smelling that person without being able to stop it. I think some of the anger also comes from those people- I'm sure you've met them- that when you politely ask them to stop, they purposely do it for a while longer just to annoy you until you're screaming at them and beginning to break down in tears... Of course, WE are the one "misbehaving" in this scenario, and that person will get mad at US for "overreacting". So now, that sensation is somewhat tainted in our minds and any interaction with it again causes immediate pure anger. I SO SO SO relate to wanting to punch my fiancé in the face when he's making body noises... Chewing, breathing loudly, etc... But he has ADHD so when he doesn't take his meds he turns into a 10 year old and treats me like his little sister. So part of HIS disorder is to annoy the hell out of me the best he can, and he knows the sound of shaking a pill bottle over and over, burping, touching my face, or leaning his weight on me all set me off immediately....
So yeah... I can relate.

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OH also- NASALLY VOICES. I have never been able to befriend a person with a nasally voice and have even grown to hate that person. I know in high school two people in my group of friends that I just couldn't handle being friends with so I tried to avoid them at all costs.

The sound of someone brushing their teeth. I can't even tell you how angry it makes me, I can't stand it, it's just torture to me.

The sound of a child making that screaming/crying sound. It hurts my ears so badly that I want to hit someone. It's the worst sound in the world.

I had to wrestle abby (my cat) into her carrier to get her to her vet appointment this afternoon ... the poor thing always gets very stressed becuase she can tell she's was going to the vet - but it was worse today. I was trying to call taxi but couldn't get through - tried for 15 minutes when I did get through and had to listen to loud advertisements ...Abby started clawing and scratching along the textured hard plastic floor of her carrier! this, sound and similar sounds (e.g accidental scratching or scraping of seat-belt like material, scrapping of cutlery on plates, etc) make both my ears / ear drums hurt so badly - its almost paralyzing - pain goes right through my head..can really feel it deep in my ear drums! but also neck/shoulders and skin on back crawls.. I always end up snapping and becoming uncontrollably angry, which always scares me a little because I pretty much have no temper, and don't really get angry, and am definitely not violent. At two hours later my ears were still sore/irritated (nothing like the intense pain while the noise is there). It's now 5 hours later and my ears have settled a bit..but still very sensitive....and im still a bit grumpy, and am vrey exhausted ...its 8.20pm here...and I *feel* like I haven't slept in 2 days... I know if I go to bed too early I have trouble staying asleep all night....must...stay...awake little...longer!! (so pathetic! im 25 years old... and I want go to bed the same time as toddlers and the elderly

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Oh also I agree Raven - children screaming/crying - it must be the pitch and volume but it makes me want to run for the nearest exit...or yell at the kid... which would be.. not ..good... haha its not the child's fault...
And yes - people chewing, kissing or slurping - gets a similar response - end up feeling like a pressure cooker!
(unfortunately I am a serial offender of eating with my mouth open (however don't often notice much sound) - cant seem to figure out how to eat/chew food and get air at the same time - but only because from birth my nasal passage way has been extremely narrow inside, and I find trying to breathe through my nose almost impossible - when I try - don't get enough air - end up gasping for air after (imagine trying to breathe through a very skinny straw as only source of oxygen... so yes..unfortunately I am a mouth breather as it works for me haha)

Other things are pets cleaning themselves (more annoyed response than a 'cant stand it' response...OH and I hate really sharp, whistley S's when people talk

but none of these things really cause the same ..well..yes I would say extreme pain, that scraping, scratching sound gives me .. (except that horrible loud, high pitched, coloured bar-code thing they used to put at the very end of VHS tapes...thank goodness for DVDs)

whistling. I hate when people whistle. When anyone whistles I have to try really hard not to flip out at them because I have a few times and had people get mad at me for overreacting. The ironic thing is that I can't whistle if I try, I could for three days when I was 8 and then lost the ability, but I don't even want to know how becuase the sound cuts through my body like a knife.

The other sound which is hard to explain that drives me mad, is the sound of certain types of winter coats scratching against themselves. I grew up in northern alberta where it's about -45 C for four months of the year. For some reason my snowsuits and coat/snowpants sets were always made from this rough fabric that makes this horrible sounds when it brushes against itself. It give me a feeling in my body like nails on a chalkboard, it just makes me shudder. I used to spend all my time outside trying not to touch my sleeves to my side or rub my legs together when I walked.
I'm so glad I live on the coast now and never have to wear a winter coat again. Although nowadays they seem to make plenty of winter coats with smooth fabric.

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oh yeah, the sound of children crying, someone else mentioned that. The sound of children crying is so unbearable to me. I have 5 siblings, and have baby-sat for income most of my life. I became the favourite baby-sitter because I could stop any baby crying almost instantly. I can just tell exactly how to rock them or hold them or what to give them to get them to stop. I never understood how any mother could let a child 'cry it out' or cry themself to sleep. They have proven now that all memories have an emotional core and that happy babies grow up to be healthier adults. They found a connection between emotional trauma in childhood and a greater incidence of health problems in later life.
I can only imagine how horribly afraid and abandoned a baby must feel in a dark crib alone crying with no one coming to comfort them. This is the one part of caring for other people's children I could not do. If I was told to let them cry for fifteen minutes I could not do it. I just didn't tell the parents.

Also, babies can tell who is with them and what kind of resolve they have. Any time I tried to let a kid cry I was told there was a fifteen minute mark and that no kid would cry past 15 minutes. well I don't know if parents are not watching the clock but I tried hard for fifteen minutes with two seperate kids, once when I was thirteen, another kid when I was 21. The whole fifteen minutes I stared at the clock clenching my hands and jaw trying not to throw up from the agony of the sound of the crying. At fifteen minutes on the dot the child was still crying. At which point I took the kid out of the crib and sang them to sleep and put them back down. With both of those kids I never let them cry again. I simply learned how to put them to sleep another way.

It is amazing to me however that a parent could be capable of letting their kid cry for fifteen minutes or longer before they fall asleep rather than just finding a different solution. reading them to sleep, singing them to sleep, dancing them to sleep. Train kids to learn to feel safe and relaxed enough to be able to fall asleep voluntarily, don't train them to give up on their parents comforting them and fall asleep out of defense so they don't have to feel afraid anymore.

Sorry for the rant, but I am so sensitive to children's needs, I get carried away.