Misophonia

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i KNOW i have it...well, i think it's actually a strange combo of misophonia and hyperacusis. in fact, on the aspie quiz, i scored NT or close to NT in most categories except Perception -- SEVERELY aspie.

i'm startled by sudden sounds, both loud and soft, and irritated by most others. but i can't handle complete silence, either...which is why i use a white noise machine at night -- and during the day! (when on my computer, which is in my bedroom). it drowns out a lot of the little noises and dulls the louder ones.

as for when i'm in the rest of the house, i use the tv as my white noise maker...but i can't handle the volume being too high...nor low, lol.

as for things like someone drumming their fingers, chewing or breathing loudly, or *dragging their teeth across their fork* (OMG, that one makes me homicidal!), i immediately DEMAND that they stop -- if they're family, that is, lol (and it doesn't matter how distant of family, either!). but when in public, i'll simply give the perpetrator a dirty look; and if that doesn't work, i'll move away from the area or leave.

on the other hand, i love loud music -- IF it's music i *like*, that is (but if it's country, i get out my shotgun)

Yes, I know I experience terrible misophonia (redundant, but true).
I haven't read the whole conversation, but for those of you who mentioned fear of sudden, especially sudden loud sounds, my recollection is that this is called "phonophobia" and is distinct from misophonia. I'm in no way phonophobic. Unless it is sudden loud eating sounds!

I flat out hate laughter in real life. I can handle it on a sitcom but it still annoys me a little. If in my own home I shush people when they laugh. I'm not trying to be mean but I just cannot stand the sound of laughter.

Yes, lots of sounds people make enrage me.

Again a term where we need to be critical. As pointed out earlier, I think most people have been annoyed for instance by the chewing of others. Thus either that cannot be attributed to misophonia, or misophonia must be a name for something common. The Wikipedia article says it's a "rarely diagnosed disorder" which I interpret as "it's not necessarily rare, but it is rarely disabling enough to be diagnosed". Note that I am not actually making any conclusion to whether it is actually rare or not, only that it rarely is very disabling.

I too, have been annoyed by for instance chewing sounds, but not angry. However, since I got tinnitus I have actually become (invisibly) angry due some sounds that I fear may make my tinnitus worse. For instance beggars playing loud music. I normaly feel pity for beggars but not anymore for those who play loud music. I realize they are totally unaware of my tinnitus and in a bad situation, but anger has now become an automatic response to things that may damage may hearing. It is also noteworthy that "misophonia" was coined by Jastreboff, a famous tinnitus researcher. This makes me believe that what I describe is a classical example of what he meant by the term. Not that it's unrelated to autism, it's probably not (hyperacusis too is common to both autism and tinnitus and very related to misophonia), but I don't think we should attribute a "normal level of annoyance by chewing sound" to misophonia.

No, it's definitely not annoyance. I can never own a fire arm because of my Misophonia. That puts it in perspective. It is a massive bodily response which takes over your entire being. You basically want to kill the person. to literally attack him full force and rip his head off. If I had a fire arm I would most likely end up using it in a Misophonic rage. People would often tell me to have some self control when they saw me react. Now that I am older I can react and keep it discreet. But for the people telling me to have self control in a Misophonic rage, I say we are some of the most self controlled people on the planet. If we had no self control you would be dead. That is how powerful Misophonic reactions can be for me.

I would be surprised if I didn't have it. Usually from people chewing or snoring and from tellys that are too loud and birds tweeting repetitively. Usually I get this rage that makes me want to stab them with a fork or strangle them or smashing their head off the table or if it's snoring I want to smother them with a pillow. I just try to avoid eating with people as I have threatened people in the past.

What annoys me is every month or so on Facebook this picture pops up saying when you feel angry when you hear someone chewing that it's called misophonia. And lots of people like it or share it saying I have this. It's a hell of a lot more than a little angry.