You Brain is Wired to Hate the Sound of People Chewing

So, any of you guys hate the sound of chewing???

According to a scientist report in Current Biology, you don’t hate the sound of chewing because you’re high maintenance or overly sensitive, you hate the sound of chewing because you actually have something called – wait for it – Misophonia.

Current Biology says, “Misophonia is an affective sound-processing disorder characterized by the experience of strong negative emotions (anger and anxiety) in response to everyday sounds, such as those generated by other people eating, drinking, chewing, and breathing.” 

To get a better idea of misophonia, researchers played different sounds, some neutral, like rain falling, and others more intense, like a baby crying, to 20 people with misophonia and 22 people without. They were hooked up to MRIs, and their body’s reaction to the sounds were recorded. While some sounds were annoying to everyone, they didn’t cause any abnormal responses. A third set of sounds was then played, consisting of chewing and breathing – things that cause distress in people with misophonia – and man, oh man…

Science News states, “Misophonics responded far more dramatically to the chewing and breathing. They showed more activity in their anterior insular cortex, a brain structure involved in emotional processing. Scientists found structural differences, too — more connections from the anterior insular cortex to structures like the amygdala and the hippocampus, which also help with processing emotions. People with misophonia also showed increased heart rate and skin conductivity. That’s the same sort of flight-or-fight response that gets triggered when facing a wild animal or a public speaking engagement.”

So to all my fellow misophonics, don’t worry. You’re fine. Your irritability is VALID.
I guess we were just born this way?