Rage might be a little strong, but angry and nauseated, yes. It doesn't make sense, but I simply cannot eat with loud chewers, my appetite is gone. Music with dinner helps:)

There is a fellow graduate student in my lab who eats noisily and also breathes very heavily. I make a point not to sit next to him at lab meetings or I can't pay attention to the presenter.

It's a pet peeve, sure, but I've never felt the need to throttle anyone.

YES!!! This is mind blowing for me as I have never heard or known there was a "name" for this. Since my childhood and to this day hearing people chew food at the table has at times given me full blown anxiety attacks and rage. I've tried to explain this to others and no one takes it very seriously. I can not believe there is a known condition...Thank you for this post. I don't feel as crazy!!!

I'm not sure if I suffer from this or not, but since a kid, I've always been sensitive to sounds made by others. I used to barricade myself in with cereal boxes at the breakfast table and finish as fast as I could. Whispering, people typing near me, chewing, biting, forks on teeth, faint bass from the neighbors, even the sound of saliva in someone's mouth when they talk or long "S" sounds... it all drives me mad. Or maybe I'm just neurotic.

Yea I wouldn't go so far as to tell someone they have a diagnosed illness if they mind the dude at the end of the table flapping his mouth with a mouthful of food falling out annoying everyone.

I'm fairly tolerant of noises but growing up and still as an adult, the one thing that strikes a main nerve for me still is to hear my younger brother eat. He klinks the fork or spoon against his teeth every bite he takes then either breathes loud and nasally while he chews or chews mouth open. I'm shuddering just picturing it.

Drug to treat this "disorder" coming to market in 3....2...1...

I actually do feel this way about noisy chewers, but seriously?!?

And some people have problems breathing through their noses. So, it's either breath through their mouths a bit, or, you know, die for your pleasure.

*years of being hassled over "too loud breathing"*

I shall confess to "dumping" a perfectly nice boyfriend in my younger years as not only was he a noisy open-mouthed eater (I am cringing at the memory) but he also ground his teeth in his sleep!

I feel so validated!!! I want to smack someone who is a loud eater! It's soooo infuriating to me. It's gross and seems rude.

When I was in high school, my first day, freshmen year, there was a guys behind me in my class and he had a Jolly Rancher in his mouth and was running the hard piece of candy across the inside of his teeth, and slopping it around.

I am normally a passive person, but I blew! I turned around and said semi loudly, "DO YOU MIND! Can you keep the noise inside your mouth?!?!" We became friends later, thank goodness.

I will get up and leave when someone smacks their lips!

You can count me among the people that call bullshit on this one. If it were really a physiological/neurological disorder, there's absolutely no way that it would be confined to sounds as culturally specific as chewing/slurping/etc. We have so much cultural baggage around food and eating (as well as all sorts of other bodily functions) being disgusting that it's no surprise that those sounds trigger intense emotions in people. A psych disorder, maybe. But totally not a physiological one.

I have never actually hurt anyone (which is what I think of when I read the word "rage" so I had to clarify), but I sure do get angry! I have been known to storm out of family dinners because my siblings find it hilarious eat/drink as loud as possible, just because they know it bugs me.

Many of my co-workers eat and breathe incredibly loud as well. I complain about it constantly to my husband throughout the day because it seems to help me cope with noise and keeps me from yelling at them. I have to concentrate very hard and take deep breaths to keep my cool. I would say that at times it causes me physical pain to be around all the noise.

The strangest thing, though, is that people have told me that my husband eats loud but I have never once noticed it!

LOL one more "mental illness" identified, aren't we lucky. I suspect this condition is part of a larger problem certain people may have if they do fly into a rage. Although lip smacking and loud chewing does make me want to quit my job and write about etiquette full time.

Those sounds don't bother me that much,but I nearly smothered someone in their sleep for snoring over the weekend. He sounded like a hack saw/chainsaw that was angry with itself, and I had to greatly resist the urge to vent my frustrations with a well aimed pillow.

Apparently, lack of sleep makes me violent.

Eating noises are like fingernails on a chalkboard for me. These days I just resort to leaving the table when possible and returning to eat my food alone, or eat with music or some sort of other noise. My best friend and I in college bonded over being annoyed with eating noises - she couldn't even stand to hear herself eat and would turn on the TV or something to distract herself. I wouldn't say that I've reacted severely to anyone (aside from my sister when we were young and fought about most anything). Even this morning I had to leave the table as my husband was trying to eat oatmeal while feeling sick and making the worst noises in trying to "choke it down". And may I just say that movie theaters are the worst for running into noisy eaters/noisy food! I do understand this is often my problem and not those making the noise though. I'm definitely over-sensitive about eating noises.

I agree with shayn, this may be a legitimate psychological condition, but it is not physiological.

Gum chewing, sucking (like hard candy), and sniffles drive me crazy. There's just something about those kind of noises that I can't tune out and they just make me physically uncomfortable. It's the wet quality of the sounds, I think: normal chewing doesn't bother me nearly as much, (though open mouth chewing is always rude).

Thank you for this post, it's awesome! This is totally what my poor husband has. He can not handle the sound of chewing- especially really crunchy things like chips or crackers (when mouth is shut- not smacking gums or anything). I have to go into the den and close the door when eating chips because it just makes him crazy, poor thing. He knows it's in his head, but that doesn't matter. The feelings are real. He'll be so glad to have company!

How about a diagnosis for the gross open-mouth chewers? There's something wrong with them, too!

In Japan, slurping noodles or soup is a sign that you are enjoying your food. That drives a lot of Americans absolutely nuts... :D

If you are annoyed or enraged by noises like these and you'd like to feel free of that, please contact me! It's easy and fast to release, using NLP techniques. I've had several people who have been astonished to find out they could let go in five minutes or so of something they'd been suffering from for decades.

Interesting. Since I was around seven or eight I have had an absolute abhorrence of lip smacking and loud chewing. Twenty-some years later and I still can be put IMMEDIATELY into a foul, sometimes downright angry, mood on hearing someone noisily chewing and popping gum. Thoughts of ripping the offending chewing gum out of the person's mouth or asking them what the heck is wrong with them that they have to make those noises. Nice to know I'm not just randomly pissed off by people lacking in manners....but, seriously, why DO people feel the need to make such noises in the first place?

I'm troubled by the comments that this would be a psychological disorder but (emphatically) not a physiological disorder. It's that kind of logic that leads to the faulty conclusion that mental health is somehow qualitatively different from general health. The notion that some disorders are more "real" than others is not a helpful idea, and it contributes to the stigma of mental illness. So live and let live?

-End of unexpected rant for a cooking blog.

I drive myself crazy with this, it's so frustrating. I heard an annoying wet clicking sound the other day and I thought it was my coworker chewing, and I started to grind my teeth with rage...then I figured out she was punching holes in foam. Suddenly the noise didn't annoy me, which is ridiculous. A noise is a noise is a noise.

I can handle anything in a restaurant or outside where there is a fair amount of ambient noise, I'm only affected when there is no background noise, like lunchtime at work when suddenly I am surrounded by slurping crunching feeding animals. Apples and chips should be banned from open office plans. My eating noises are of course never offensive.

I've learned to keep it to myself for the most part - thankfully my husband is very patient.

This doesn't make me feel any less crazy, but at least I have a diagnosis now.

Misophoniacs often sentence themselves to a lifetime of suffering by practicing believing other people's actions cause their suffering. If only people (and animals) would stop! Then they could feel ok. And the "disorder" can *POOF* disappear when the sufferer notices it's not the person, animal or sound that's causing the discomfort, it's the sufferer's THOUGHTS ABOUT it that is the source of the suffering. Just as fuzzybub's annoyance disappeared when the sound was foam punching rather than chewing, a misophoniac has the power to shift their perspective in other ways that make leave them feeling fine regardless of any mouth noises they hear. That involves taking responsibility and giving up the tantrum, and not everyone's willing to do that - and those who aren't, usually suffer from this problem their whole lives.

Blaming other people tends to intensify your own suffering. When people who are making the noise feel you're making them wrong, they're likely to do it even louder and more obnoxiously, just to annoy you.

Of course there are people with physiological problems regarding sound, and how you can tell the difference is: if your suffering is physical (you feel physical pain only, no emotional distress), it's physiological. If you feel any emotional distress, like rage, whether you feel physical pain or not, you have the power to feel better instantly by shifting your thoughts -- and that more often than not eliminates the physical pain as well, even if you have an underlying physiological disorder.

yes, those sounds drive me to want to throttle the person making them. I hate it. I think unless you have suffered from this awful "quirk" you will never understand and I don't need your pop psychology. Must be nice to know everything....

I would have no clue whether or not I suffer from this, but it does provide a neat explanation for . . .

- Glaring with rage at my aunt across the table when I was, oh, 8 or 9, asking her to shut her mouth while she chews (I promise I wasn't a devil child otherwise!!)

- Switching from mild-mannered, polite student to evil, death-ray-eyed monster when students in the library slobbered on hard candy, sniffed one time too many, rustled their papers, or creaked in their seats

- Running over to my boyfriend to hold his leg still when I hear it repeatedly tapping against his pants

It sounds more like it's part of some sensory integration disorder.

Hi, whimzy, was that "pop psychology" thing directed at me? I have indeed suffered from that awful quirk -- I do totally understand how horrible it feels, having felt it myself! And having made it disappear in an instant, and helped dozens of people do the same, I also understand how powerful people are in the face of that quirk, if they are willing to be. I don't know everything, but I do know that it's possible to remove misophonia in the blink of an eye -- but only if the misophoniac wants to. Many misophoniacs are very attached to their suffering, and that's ok. It's usually not life-threatening (except maybe to people you want to throttle!)

I mean yes, it seriously pisses me off and makes me want to scream and/or hit someone (including my mother, am I a horrible person?). But I never do it. I realize that that's irrational behavior and squirm and suffer internally or walk away seething then cool off. It is, however, nice to know I'm not the only person freakishly obsessed with this! But i feel like calling it a diagnosed condition is a bit much...

My mother used to yell at me when I would get upset about the sound of her eating and drinking.

My husband still gets his feelings hurt when I have to leave the room or ask him to quiet down when he is eating.

I have suffered with this problem as long as I can remember. Lucky for me I was raised by a single mother who cannot keep her mouth closed when she eats and when she drinks the sound is so loud it is painful to me.

I have never physically lashed out, though I have wanted to. Eating and drinking noises drive me up the wall; I have felt pure rage at the sound of someone sucking on a piece of candy, wanted to break the jaw of a gum popper and have come close to throttling moviegoers who don't understand the amount of popcorn they can realistically fit into their mouths. The sound of popcorn squeaking across teeth as someone shoves fistfuls into their face only to chew with their mouth wide open. I have moved seats in theaters. I usually request corner booths in restaurants. Plus, I try to go to noisy eateries to help drown out the sounds.

I have had to stop eating because all I could hear was myself chewing and swallowing.

I always thought I suffered from a sensory processing issue as I also have troubles with sounds not related to food and I have tactile issues as well as issues with my fingertips and toes.

Yay! Crazy me.

Seems like it might be pretty hard-wired to me. I'm fine with most noises, but I can't stand metal scraping against metal, even just stirring a pot on the stove. I found out I can't deal with scratching a pen (the click kind, clicked in) against paper to point things out. Maybe there's an easy mental fix, maybe there isn't. I haven't been "cured" yet.

. . . and yes. It's hard-wired and genetic.

If this does not affect you or your family directly, you need not comment or be involved in any way.

EEG, EFT, NLP, Hypno/psycho-therapies and drugs and diet can offer some coping mechanisms and tools but they are by no means a cure. We need research. If this does affect you &/or your family, please log into the website(s) to be counted for research for a cure. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Soundsensitivity/
http://soundsensitivity.info/english/
There is also a good "scale" here from Misophonia UK http://www.misophonia-uk.org/the-misophonia-activation-scale.html
Here's to strength in numbers!!!

I would be among the first to be skeptical about the validity of a "condition" that seems to just be a stronger version of something everyone experiences, and especially if it was just inexplicably connected to certain triggers but not others. But as someone who experiences these symptoms I have to admit that it is absolutely real.

When a normal person hears a thunderous crash followed by people screaming in another part of the building they're in, chemicals are released in their brain and they immediately react without thinking and are moved to do something. I believe this is called a "fight or flight" response. This is the reaction I have when hearing certain quiet, personal sounds like chewing that others are able to tune out. My blood pressure instantly spikes, pictures start flashing through my mind about how to deal with it. All of my attention immediately focuses on the person and chemicals surge throughout my body preparing me to either assault the person or make a dramatic escape.

This all happens within a fraction of a second, but fortunately I have time to suppress the emotions, usually before any serious consequence. This requires a tremendous mental effort though, and is perpetually exhausting.

Misophonia is not just being "really annoyed" by people chewing with their mouths open, and I can no more prevent it than anyone else can choose to use their left hand because being right-handed is "all in their head". I do believe this condition can be treated and sufferers can improve their lives with effort, and probably even without drugs or surgery. But first we have to understand it. I urge those with misophonia, and/or the symptoms described on this and other sites to share their experiences, and contact the medical/psychological community with any information that can be useful in developing tools for diagnosis and treatment.

Yes and it is extremely embarrassing! I've had it for a while to some extent but its got a lot worse now that I sit next to somebody at work that chews with his mouth open and slurps his coffee. The rage and panic really hits me and now it's started to happen when I see him pull anything out of his bag. My heart starts racing, there's immense pressure in my ears, my teeth grit, my tears well up and I have to hide my mouth so others can't see my expression, I can't' concentrate whatsoever (if my boyfriend crunches toast next to me I have trouble finishing a sentence - I lose my train of thought and then I can't pick it up again - it's literally like I can't think). At work it is embarassing because it is hard to hide. I know its showing on my face and my body goes very stiff. Sometimes I type slightly louder in the hope it will drown out the sound but I realised other people notice this and I was embarrassed. When I'm at home and this happens I sometimes just let myself give up. I squeeze my eyes shut, clasp my hands over my ears and just concentrate on slowing down my breathing and trying to calm down. It's embarrassing enough having a mental health disorder (anxiety in my case) without having something so obvious as a symptom (Im assuming its a symptom in my case). I really look like I'm mental! I've found deep breathing when the sound is going to start helps and trying to relax my shoulders. i try my best to concentrate on that. It's probably not a good idea to leave the room or anything (I do this sometimes) because you'll get used to that avoidance. The only way to get used to it is to expose yourself to it, I reckon.

I just found out that what I have is a real condition after suffering for over 30 years!This condition is very real and it cannot be helped. I can't finish dinner with my family once I am done eating. I have broke down into tears of rage in waiting rooms when someone is chewing gum. Chips, hard candy, gum and anything else that makes noise is not allowed in my house. Sometimes I have even thought maybe I should pray to be deaf or lose some of my hearing so I am not so cruel to the people I love when I get enraged like this because it is so unfair and I cannot stand it. And surprisingly it is true, once I vocalize my anger to the offender the rage stops.

I think those who eat or chew like a dog or a pig have some psychological, medical and behavioural problem rather than those who get irritated with those sounds. See this link: http://www.heidigranthalvorson.com/2011/02/why-chewing-with-your-mouth-open-can.html By making these irritating sounds while eating, may be these pigs and dogs think they are more powerful than others.

This is a relief to see that there is actually a name for this. I thought I was the only one who was driven insane whenever I heard someone chew food.

I Honestly Thought I Was The Only One My Family Laughs At Me Everytime i tell yhem but that noise really drives me insane like i will have thoughts that are really bad but i would never act out on it idk why i wish i never had this stupid thi g

i have a this problem for around 20 years and i think i reached a very complicated level , it makes me wanna die some times and feel like an inhuman rage means beyond normal human feelings i tried to develope a way to answer these sounds like immitate the same sounds that i hear and answer back to the people that are making these sounds as i still also believe that people are making these sounds only to irritate me and specialy at the time the sound happens i cannot stop this feeling , so it was like a soft revenge better than punching or shouting back at someone and i think my family and close people are ok with it , and actualy it made me feel better but not cured .

Oh good grief, my father is loudly sucking his teeth and my mother is loudly swallowing her tea and making mouth sounds as I write this. I do feel rage boiling up and I'm sure it is connected to my feelings that they are unsconscious/unaware of the things they do that are more deeply painful or have been painful to me all my life. In other words, the dinner time sounds are a trigger for a general lack of awareness and presence on their part that still has the power to upset me or throw me off balance . And while I still sit with the sorrow or grief about their not being that present for me as a child, they go on obliviously doing what they have always done; not being sensitive....

Oh my god I am so glad I have found this! The person I work with is the most disgusting eater I have ever come across! I feel pure rage every time he eats! He smacks his chops, makes slurping noises and sucking noises even when he's eating toast! He has just started making his own soup so I dread lunch time. Come to think about it he often makes these noises along with "tutting noise" when he isn't even eating! I feel so angry and my chest goes really tight and I have to really try and stop myself from saying something to him. If it was someone I knew well I would tell them without hesitation to close their mouth but as I work with him what can I do? It's literally driving me up the wall and I am usually such a calm and laid back person.

I have just read your comment and it is so similar to the one I have just left. I feel the same as you! I get a really tight chest and literally want to scream at the person I work with! He just seems totally oblivious to the noises that are coming out of his mouth which is something I find really hard to believe. Then when he talks to me during lunch time I fell so stressed out by it that I can barely speak to him and I don't know if this is normal but now I've started to notice other little things he does that annoy me so now I basically can't stand the guy that I have to spend 8 and a half hours a day with 5 days a week. What can you do?

I find myself in a situation to where i can no longer hide the fact someone is chewing next to me. I got so bad with mine that i am fearful of myself chewing around anyone else thinking i might be annoying them myself. I have gotten to where i have hit someone cause i told them i cannot stand the sound of chewing and they continued to smack in my ear and i punched them in their face. I feel very isolated when it comes to this condition. Mine started when i was a kid, my younger brother would constantly chew with his mouth open only stopping when my dad walked in the room but would do it after he would leave the room. Since then it has progressed, I used to avoid eating at lunch or if i did eat i sat by myself away from everyone. when my friends would come to my table and talk i refused to eat.

Is there anything new that has been put out to the medical field for this condition

at the same time i find hard to believe that their are people out that that make noises with foods that are soft like regular bread or the slurping of soup kissing is one i still fight with with myself on a daily basis

I can hear the smallest chewing sounds someone makes and it drives me crazy. I used to have to leave teh room when i ate with my parents at times. I would turn on music and eat fast so that I didn't have to hear their chewing. They aren't impolite or even especially loud chewers, but I could hear everything that was going on in their mouths - especially my mom, who is a slow eater. My sister too - I can't be around her when she is eating, she's a slow eater and I can hear her pushing food around in her mouth. I have grown to just sort of try and push the sound out of my mind when I am around people whom I can hear chewing - and I try to distract them and interrupt their chewing so that they will just swallow already and get on with the next bite so we can be done with it. The irony of it all is that I host meals in my apartment frequently - I love food and I love sharing it with people!

From the comments I've read, I can find a difference between those who find the noises just gross and annyoing; and the rest of us who do feel pure anger when we have to listen to such noises. I recall in HS, a classmate would chew gum with his mouth open... irritating to me, I never sat anywhere near that person. My dad has the horrible habit to breathe very loudly and it just sets me off. I literally feel like jumping off the car at any given moment when he's in the car with me. And I'm not exaggerating with the car thing, I literally... physically, feel the need to jump off. At dinner I never join anyone because I can't cope with the sounds... Rage is not a "hard" word actually, it is downright reality for those of us who do have this "misophonia" thing.

Oh wow im not nuts :-) when someone is poppingthere gum i feel like kicking them in the face!!! I have to get away from them. When my mom constantly clears her throat it makes me so angry. Im hoping for a treatment would be nice

This is funny, yet so true guys. I have a few of my colleague whom Chew, breath in a very uncomfortable style, i.e., their breathing is like a car AC at blast and their chewing is like a dough machine on full speed. It is very annoying and it causes me to get angry. But, listening to music and or having ear buds to HELP. Thank you all.

Oh and one more thing I don't think at all its disorder its a simple of being respectful for others whom are around you!

If you don't see this as a disorder, then you don't have it. I just found this article after searching for "food noises make me crazy," having had to leave a room in which my roommate was eating pizza. Mouth closed, totally normal sounds, but I was going to scream or throttle her. I have to take my meals into my room, because I can't deal with the sounds other people make when eating. I feel like they're inside my body. I wouldn't go on medication for it, but if there were another kind of treatment, I would go for it. Honestly, I'm used to it, and I don't mean to complain but, it does lessen my quality of life.

You don't know how good it feels to not be alone in this. EVERYONE in the office annoys me. At lunch time there's this girl who is able to make eating lettuce sound like she's munching on crackers. The HR woman snacks ALL DAY on crunchy stuff and there's this guy who breathes noisily, eats Doritos at his desk ALL the time and sighs constantly. It drives me crazy to the point that I have to leave the room. :( Needless to say going to the movie theaters is not a great activity for me. This is unbearable.