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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vog Obaum, and today's episode is

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Speaker 1: a classic from our former host, Christian Segar. This is

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Speaker 1: one that's near and dear to a few of my

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Speaker 1: coworkers in our aggressively open office space. Why do some

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Speaker 1: noises drive me crazy? Hey brain Stuff, it's Christian Seger.

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Speaker 1: Do you want to strangle people who chew with their

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Speaker 1: mouth open? Does the sound of slurping noodles drive you mad?

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Speaker 1: What about chewing gum, heavy breathing, frequent sighing, or chronic snoring?

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Speaker 1: Does the sound of flatwear dragging and clinking across a

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Speaker 1: plate fill you with unending rage? If so, you might

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Speaker 1: just have miss aphonia and you're not alone. But what

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Speaker 1: is it? There are still a lot of questions about

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Speaker 1: this relatively new diagnosis, but we know that some sounds

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Speaker 1: drive certain people acutely bonkers. And I am not talking

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Speaker 1: about slight annoyances or just getting irritated. I'm talking about

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Speaker 1: having certain sounds trigger powerful and intense feelings, ranging from

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Speaker 1: panic and anxiety to anger and yes, even arousal. If

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Speaker 1: ordinary irritation would be a three on a one to

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Speaker 1: ten scale, then this stuff is more of a twelve

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Speaker 1: or if you ask someone with miss aphonia, a two million.

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Speaker 1: The list of trigger sounds goes on. Plosive pas like

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Speaker 1: the sounds of pop, kiss, noises, plastic bags, and even

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Speaker 1: pouring water can all make miss aphonius sufferers furious. So

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Speaker 1: what exactly is going on here? The term miss aphonia

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Speaker 1: means hatred of sounds, and it was made by two neuroscientists,

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Speaker 1: Powell and Margaret Jasterboff. Most experts believe that miss aphonia

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Speaker 1: is a neurological problem, rather than a problem with an

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Speaker 1: individual's hearing system. In doctor Judith Kraudhammer argued that the

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Speaker 1: problem could be traced back to areas of the brain

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Speaker 1: called the insular cortex and the anterior singulated cortex. A

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Speaker 1: dysfunctional assessment of neural signals in the brain triggers this

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Speaker 1: intense discomfort. Interestingly enough, these areas are also hubs for

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Speaker 1: processing anger, pain, and sensory information. There are competing views

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Speaker 1: of the causes of miss aphonia. A. Gay R. Moehler

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Speaker 1: believes that the dysfunction is in the central nervous system,

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Speaker 1: that it's hardwired in people and is a physiological abnormality

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Speaker 1: rather than an auditory disorder. Powell Jasterboff believes that people

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Speaker 1: can't be born with miss aphonia, but that there might

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Speaker 1: be a genetic factor in the mix. Currently, experts think

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Speaker 1: it develops in late childhood and early adolescence and worsens

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Speaker 1: over time. Miss Aphonia is also often confused with other

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Speaker 1: ailments such as O, C, D, phobic disorders, or hyperacusis.

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Speaker 1: People with hyperacusis are overly sensitive to certain frequencies or

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Speaker 1: ranges of sound. However, if you have miss aphonia, the

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Speaker 1: volume of your trigger sound probably doesn't matter. Miss Aphonia

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Speaker 1: can develop from a range of possible factors, and patients

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Speaker 1: with other audio disorders can also develop the condition. According

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Speaker 1: to audiologist Miriam Westcott, tonitus sufferers can also develop miss

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Speaker 1: aphonia over time. Westcott argues that some causes for miss

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Speaker 1: aphonia may include an obsession with sounds that irritated or

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Speaker 1: scared you in childhood, pointing to a possible psychological factor. So,

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Speaker 1: all right, if we put all of this together, then

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Speaker 1: it seems that experts agree on a few things. One,

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Speaker 1: people with miss aphonia aren't just cranky jerks. They have

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Speaker 1: no control over their reaction to miss aphonia develops over time,

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Speaker 1: and three it may likely be caused by multiple factors.

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Speaker 1: And there's a little bad news at this point. There's

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Speaker 1: no universally recognized and effective treatment from miss aphonia. So

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Speaker 1: if the sound of snoring, smacking, and other mouth noises

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Speaker 1: turns you into a monster, then you'll be glad to

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Speaker 1: know that research on miss aphonia continues as I'm speaking

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Speaker 1: to you. Organizations in the United Kingdom have launched miss

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Speaker 1: Aphonia Monday to raise awareness for this condition. Today's episode

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Speaker 1: was written by Ben Bolan and produced by Tyler Clang.

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Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works.

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Speaker 1: For more in this and lots of other topics, visit

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Speaker 1: our home planet how stuff Works dot com. Plus for

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.