Have you ever been sitting in a quiet room when someone starts chewing gum, and suddenly that sound is all you can hear?

For most of us, it's mildly annoying, but for people with misophonia, certain sounds like chewing, coughing, or pen-clicking can trigger an intense emotional response that feels completely out of proportion to the stimulus.

We're talking anxiety, disgust, rage, even panic.

For a long time, misophonia was dismissed as just being overly sensitive or irritable.

But researchers are now recognizing it as a genuine condition with neurological underpinnings.

They're using brain imaging and other methods to understand why certain sounds provoke such extreme reactions in some people,

and are working to educate the public and develop tools to help people cope.

So how common is misophonia? What exactly is happening in the brain when someone hears a triggering sound?

Why do some sounds bother people with misophonia while other sounds don't?

Is misophonia related to such conditions as anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder?

And what can people do if they're living with misophonia or living

with someone who has it? Welcome to Speaking of Psychology, the flagship podcast of the

American Psychological Association that examines the links between psychological science and everyday life.

I'm Kim Mills.

My guest today is Dr. Heather Hansen, an assistant professor of psychology at the College

of William and Mary.

Dr. Hansen uses behavioral, physiological, and neuroimaging methods to study misophonia. She's explored the types

of sounds that can act as triggers, what's happening in the brains of people who are triggered,

and how misophonia affects people's cognitive and social judgments. Dr. Hanson is also the director

of the Misophonia Research Network, an interdisciplinary international network of

scientists and clinicians that aims to advance misophonia research. Dr. Hansen, thank you for

joining me today. Thank you so much for having me. Let's start with the basics. How is misophonia

...