Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vog Obaum, and today's episode is
Speaker 1: a classic from our former host, Christian Segar. This is
Speaker 1: one that's near and dear to a few of my
Speaker 1: coworkers in our aggressively open office space. Why do some
Speaker 1: noises drive me crazy? Hey brain Stuff, it's Christian Seger.
Speaker 1: Do you want to strangle people who chew with their
Speaker 1: mouth open? Does the sound of slurping noodles drive you mad?
Speaker 1: What about chewing gum, heavy breathing, frequent sighing, or chronic snoring?
Speaker 1: Does the sound of flatwear dragging and clinking across a
Speaker 1: plate fill you with unending rage? If so, you might
Speaker 1: just have miss aphonia and you're not alone. But what
Speaker 1: is it? There are still a lot of questions about
Speaker 1: this relatively new diagnosis, but we know that some sounds
Speaker 1: drive certain people acutely bonkers. And I am not talking
Speaker 1: about slight annoyances or just getting irritated. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: having certain sounds trigger powerful and intense feelings, ranging from
Speaker 1: panic and anxiety to anger and yes, even arousal. If
Speaker 1: ordinary irritation would be a three on a one to
Speaker 1: ten scale, then this stuff is more of a twelve
Speaker 1: or if you ask someone with miss aphonia, a two million.
Speaker 1: The list of trigger sounds goes on. Plosive pas like
Speaker 1: the sounds of pop, kiss, noises, plastic bags, and even
Speaker 1: pouring water can all make miss aphonius sufferers furious. So
Speaker 1: what exactly is going on here? The term miss aphonia
Speaker 1: means hatred of sounds, and it was made by two neuroscientists,
Speaker 1: Powell and Margaret Jasterboff. Most experts believe that miss aphonia
Speaker 1: is a neurological problem, rather than a problem with an
Speaker 1: individual's hearing system. In doctor Judith Kraudhammer argued that the
Speaker 1: problem could be traced back to areas of the brain
Speaker 1: called the insular cortex and the anterior singulated cortex. A
Speaker 1: dysfunctional assessment of neural signals in the brain triggers this
Speaker 1: intense discomfort. Interestingly enough, these areas are also hubs for
Speaker 1: processing anger, pain, and sensory information. There are competing views
Speaker 1: of the causes of miss aphonia. A. Gay R. Moehler
Speaker 1: believes that the dysfunction is in the central nervous system,
Speaker 1: that it's hardwired in people and is a physiological abnormality
Speaker 1: rather than an auditory disorder. Powell Jasterboff believes that people
Speaker 1: can't be born with miss aphonia, but that there might
Speaker 1: be a genetic factor in the mix. Currently, experts think
Speaker 1: it develops in late childhood and early adolescence and worsens
Speaker 1: over time. Miss Aphonia is also often confused with other
Speaker 1: ailments such as O, C, D, phobic disorders, or hyperacusis.
Speaker 1: People with hyperacusis are overly sensitive to certain frequencies or
Speaker 1: ranges of sound. However, if you have miss aphonia, the
Speaker 1: volume of your trigger sound probably doesn't matter. Miss Aphonia
Speaker 1: can develop from a range of possible factors, and patients
Speaker 1: with other audio disorders can also develop the condition. According
Speaker 1: to audiologist Miriam Westcott, tonitus sufferers can also develop miss
Speaker 1: aphonia over time. Westcott argues that some causes for miss
Speaker 1: aphonia may include an obsession with sounds that irritated or
Speaker 1: scared you in childhood, pointing to a possible psychological factor. So,
Speaker 1: all right, if we put all of this together, then
Speaker 1: it seems that experts agree on a few things. One,
Speaker 1: people with miss aphonia aren't just cranky jerks. They have
Speaker 1: no control over their reaction to miss aphonia develops over time,
Speaker 1: and three it may likely be caused by multiple factors.
Speaker 1: And there's a little bad news at this point. There's
Speaker 1: no universally recognized and effective treatment from miss aphonia. So
Speaker 1: if the sound of snoring, smacking, and other mouth noises
Speaker 1: turns you into a monster, then you'll be glad to
Speaker 1: know that research on miss aphonia continues as I'm speaking
Speaker 1: to you. Organizations in the United Kingdom have launched miss
Speaker 1: Aphonia Monday to raise awareness for this condition. Today's episode
Speaker 1: was written by Ben Bolan and produced by Tyler Clang.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: For more in this and lots of other topics, visit
Speaker 1: our home planet how stuff Works dot com. Plus for
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.