I had no plan what misophonia was until a coworker explained it to me.
I was relaying to him a story about our time in Summer camp as a child and how I would lose our mind at the various noses other campers would make at night while I’d try to fall asleep.
Granted, insomnia is enough to give anyone frustration or rage, especially if it’s rampant and the triggers go unchecked… However, our reactions were more than that. My coworker said that people with misophonia have a strong emotional reaction to sounds that they find unpleasant, often being extreme, uncomfortable rage. Knuckle cracking, lip smacking, pen clicking, whistling, and finger drumming are all examples of sounds that used to drive me silly before I started seeing a therapist over our potential misophonia. She told me that lots of people experience it, especially in response to environmental noises. Recently I had serious symptoms when listening to a noisy air conditioning system through the wall our family room shared with our garage. The ambient noise from the air conditioning system cycling was so loud and aggravating to me that I had to find a current air conditioning system that made a lot less noise. At the same time I wanted a component with a better SEER rating as well. Thankfully our Heating, Ventilation, and A/C company was able to find me a wonderful air conditioning system with not only a fantastic SEER rating but also whisper quiet while cycling. It’s a phenomenal component and I never hear it when it runs, even if our family room is dead quiet with no other noises present.