If The Sound Of People Chewing Freaks You Out, You NEED To Know About Misophonia
Burgers. Soup. Chips. Gum. They're all on the list of foods you can't chew near Mark Loughman. If you want to crawl out of your skin every time you hear a noisy slurp or a grating crunch, you can probably relate.
Since Loughman was young, he's been particularly sensitive to sounds - ironic, considering he grew up to be a musician and songwriter. But any innocuous sound could trigger the England-born, Los Angeles-based music man. So he did what any curious person living in the 21st century does in these kinds of situations: He googled it. "In the age of the Internet, the information's out there," he says. A self-diagnosis of misophonia followed shortly thereafter.
Doctors often overlook the obscure medical condition, which Loughman defines as an aversion to certain noises, sometimes lumping it in with anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Loughman became one of the many sufferers who turned to message boards and online groups to commiserate. Then he became their poster boy.
Last fall, Loughman wrote a song called "My Misophonia," that's become somewhat of an indie-rock anthem for people who identify with it. I can't go to cinema, 'cause people there like to chew. They sip soda, too. That's what they do, Loughman croons. Going out to a restaurant is difficult, too. Even eating dinner with his wife can turn into a daunting task.
"Pertaining to food, it's everything and nothing, basically," Loughman says. "You just have to see how the cookie crumbles - but I don't suppose that would make such an offensive noise."
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