You probably have never heard of misophonia. That said, you would know if you had it. The condition makes eating nearly torture as merely hearing the sounds of other people eating can send patients into a fierce rage instantly.
The condition usually presents itself in late childhood or early adolescence and has been studied very little until now. There is no known cure or way to reduce symptoms.
“This is not voluntary,” Marsha Johnson, an audiologist, told the New York Times. “Usually they cry a lot because they’ve been told they can control this if they want to. This is not their fault. They didn’t ask for it and they didn’t make it up. They structure their lives around it.”
Johnson says she has seen around 1,700 people with the condition, but the prevalence is also little understood.
Do you know anyone who suffers from this condition?