1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:10,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain stuff, 2 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: it's Christian Seger. Do you want to strangle people who 3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: chew with their mouth open? Does the sound of slurping 4 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,759 Speaker 1: noodles drive you mad? What about chewing gum, heavy breathing, 5 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: frequent sighing, or chronic snoring? Does the sound of flatwear 6 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:31,360 Speaker 1: dragging and clinking across a plate fill you with unending rage? 7 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: If so, you might just have mis aphonia and you're 8 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: not alone. But what is it? There are still a 9 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: lot of questions about this relatively new diagnosis, but we 10 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: know that some sounds drive certain people acutely bonkers. And 11 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: I am not talking about slight annoyances or just getting irritated. 12 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: I'm talking about having certain sounds trigger powerful and intense feelings, 13 00:00:56,080 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: ranging from panic and anxiety to anger and yes, even arousal. 14 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: If ordinary irritation would be a three on a one 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: to ten scale, then this stuff is more of a twelve, 16 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:12,280 Speaker 1: or if you ask someone with miss aphonia, a two million. 17 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: The list of trigger sounds goes on. Plosive pas like 18 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:20,759 Speaker 1: the sounds of pop, kiss, noises, plastic bags, and even 19 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:26,280 Speaker 1: pouring water can all make miss aphonius sufferers furious, so 20 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: what exactly is going on here? The term miss aphonia 21 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: means hatred of sounds, and it was made by two neuroscientists, 22 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:40,399 Speaker 1: Powell and Margaret Jasterboff. Most experts believe that miss aphonia 23 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:43,479 Speaker 1: is a neurological problem rather than a problem with an 24 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: individual's hearing system. In Dr Judith Kraudhammer argued that the 25 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: problem could be traced back to areas of the brain 26 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: called the insular cortex and the anterior singulated cortex. A 27 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: dysfunctional assessment of neural signals in the brain triggers this 28 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: intense discomfort. Interestingly enough, these areas are also hubs for 29 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 1: processing anger, pain, and sensory information. There are competing views 30 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: of the causes of miss aphonia. Aga R. Moehler believes 31 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: that the dysfunction is in the central nervous system, that 32 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: it's hardwired in people and is a physiological abnormality rather 33 00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: than an auditory disorder. Powell Jasterboff believes that people can't 34 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: be born with miss aphonia, but that there might be 35 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: a genetic factor in the mix. Currently, experts think it 36 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: develops in late childhood and early adolescence and worsens over time. 37 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,320 Speaker 1: Miss Aphonia is also often confused with other ailments, such 38 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: as O, C, D, phobic disorders, or hyperacusis. People with 39 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: hyperacusis are overly sensitive to certain frequencies or ranges of sound. However, 40 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: if you have miss aphonia, the volume of your trigger 41 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: sound probably doesn't matter. Miss Aphonia can develop from a 42 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,800 Speaker 1: range of possible factors, and patients with other audio disorders 43 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:12,959 Speaker 1: can also develop the condition. According to audiologist Miriam Westcott, 44 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:18,240 Speaker 1: tonitus sufferers can also develop miss aphonia over time. Westcott 45 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: argues that some causes for miss aphonia may include an 46 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,839 Speaker 1: obsession with sounds that irritated or scared you in childhood, 47 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: pointing to a possible psychological factor. So all right, if 48 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: we put all of this together, then it seems that 49 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: experts agree on a few things. One, people with miss 50 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 1: aphonia aren't just cranky jerks. They have no control over 51 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: their reaction to miss Aphonia develops over time. And three 52 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: it may likely be caused by multiple factors. And there's 53 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: a little bad news at this point. There's no universally 54 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: recognized and effective treatment from miss aphonia. So if the 55 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: sound of snoring, smack, and other mouth noises turns you 56 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: into a monster. Then you'll be glad to know that 57 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: research on miss aphonia continues as I'm speaking to you. 58 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: Organizations in the United Kingdom have launched miss Aphonia Monday 59 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:20,720 Speaker 1: to raise awareness for this condition. Check out the brain 60 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:22,919 Speaker 1: stuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this and 61 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.