Why Do Chewing Sounds Bother Me So Much? It May Be Misophonia

If the sound of someone chewing makes you instantly irritated, angry or disgusted, far more than it seems to bother anyone else, you may have misophonia. It's a condition in which specific sounds trigger strong negative reactions, and eating sounds are by far the most common trigger. It isn't rudeness or impatience, it isn't a phobia, and you're far from alone: in a UK study, about 18% of adults had misophonia symptoms that caused a significant burden in their life.

I have misophonia, and mouth sounds are my hardest trigger. Here's what researchers have learned about why chewing sounds affect some of us so much.

What is misophonia?

In 2022, an international panel of researchers and clinicians agreed on a definition: "Misophonia is a disorder of decreased tolerance to specific sounds or stimuli associated with such sounds." These triggers "tend to evoke strong negative emotional, physiological, and behavioral responses that are not seen in most other people" (Swedo et al., 2022).

The reactions are not just in your head. According to the same definition:

• Emotions: "Anger, irritation, disgust, and anxiety are most common, though some individuals may experience rage."
• Body: triggers "may evoke increased autonomic arousal such as increased muscular tension, increased heart rate, and sweating."
• Behaviour: people often avoid or leave situations with triggers, try to make the sound stop, or even mimic it.

Why chewing in particular?

Eating sounds top almost every list of misophonia triggers. The consensus definition notes that "sounds associated with oral functions are among the most often reported misophonic trigger stimuli, such as chewing, eating, smacking lips, slurping, coughing, throat clearing, and swallowing" (Swedo et al., 2022).

In one of the largest clinical studies of misophonia, 96% of patients were triggered by eating sounds, and 85% by nasal and breathing sounds (Jager et al., 2020).

There's a revealing detail: your own chewing usually doesn't bother you. Researchers note that "self-generated stimuli typically do not evoke the same aversive responses as stimuli produced by other people" (Swedo et al., 2022). It's other people's mouth sounds that set it off.

Is it a phobia of chewing sounds?

Many people search for a "fear" or "phobia" of chewing sounds, but misophonia is usually not about fear. In the study that first proposed diagnostic criteria, researchers explained that "in specific phobia the perceived emotion is anxiety, whereas in misophonia it is aggression" (Schröder, Vulink & Denys, 2013). In the large Amsterdam study, the most reported emotions were irritation (93.8%), anger (89.5%) and disgust (64.0%), and none of the patients reported anxiety as their primary response (Jager et al., 2020).

That doesn't mean fear never plays a part. Some people do feel anxious, especially when anticipating a meal or a situation they know will be hard. But the core reaction is closer to anger and disgust than to fear.

What happens in the brain

Brain imaging studies suggest the reaction is real and measurable.

• A salience alarm. In a 2017 study, trigger sounds produced "greatly exaggerated" responses in people with misophonia in the anterior insular cortex, a brain region involved in emotion and in deciding what deserves attention. The researchers concluded that misophonia is a disorder in which "abnormal salience is attributed to particular sounds" (Kumar et al., Current Biology, 2017). Trigger sounds also raised heart rate and skin conductance.
• Mirroring the mouth. A 2021 study found that in people with misophonia, trigger sounds activated the part of the brain that controls our own mouth and face movements more strongly. The authors proposed a model of "hyper-mirroring" of other people's orofacial actions, emphasising "the action of the trigger-person rather than the sounds which are a byproduct of that action" (Kumar et al., Journal of Neuroscience, 2021).

In other words, the brain may be reacting to the act of someone else eating, not just to the noise.

Why is it worse with people you love?

This is one of the most confusing parts of misophonia, and one of the most painful. In the Amsterdam study, "subjects often stated the emotional response to be far more intense towards loved ones" (Jager et al., 2020). The consensus definition also lists "the interpersonal relationship" with the person making the sound among the factors that change how strong a reaction is (Swedo et al., 2022).

So if family meals are the hardest part of your day, it doesn't mean you don't love the people at the table.

Seeing someone chew can trigger it too

For many people, the sight alone is enough. Visual triggers include "stimuli associated with an auditory trigger, such as watching someone eat" (Swedo et al., 2022). A related phenomenon, misokinesia, describes a strong reaction to seeing small repetitive movements like fidgeting, and about a third of people in one large study reported some degree of it (Jaswal et al., 2021).

You're not overreacting, and you're not alone

Misophonia is common, but few people know its name. In a UK study, an estimated 18.4% of people experienced misophonia to an extent that caused significant burden, yet only 13.6% had ever heard the term (Vitoratou et al., 2023).

It usually starts early. Symptoms "are typically first observed in childhood or early adolescence" (Swedo et al., 2022), and in the Amsterdam study the average age of onset was about 13 (Jager et al., 2020).

Is it misophonia or something else?

Misophonia is sometimes confused with hyperacusis. Hyperacusis is physical discomfort or pain when sounds reach a certain loudness, whereas misophonia refers to intense emotional reactions to certain sounds that "are not influenced by the perceived loudness of those sounds" (Henry et al., American Journal of Audiology, 2022). A quiet chewing sound can be just as unbearable as a loud one.

Misophonia isn't yet included in the main diagnostic manuals, the DSM-5 and ICD-11, but researchers agreed on a consensus definition in 2022 (Cleveland Clinic). If you want to know whether what you experience matches, I go through the signs of misophonia in detail.

What can you do about it?

There's no cure yet, but plenty of things make daily life easier:

• Cushion the sound with music, brown noise or white noise.
• Use earplugs or headphones at meals or in the office, but not all day. I compare them in my guide to noise cancelling headphones for misophonia.
• Talk to the people you eat with, at a calm moment, and agree on small changes.
• Consider therapy if it affects your relationships or your mood. Cognitive behavioural therapy has shown benefits in a clinical trial.

I go through all of these in how to deal with misophonia day to day.

And if you meet chewing and lip smacking mostly in videos, as I do, CalmEar reduces mouth smacks and lip smacking in YouTube videos as they play. I also wrote a guide to watching YouTube with misophonia.

When to talk to a professional

If chewing sounds affect your work, your relationships or your mood on most days, a professional can help. The Duke Center for Misophonia and Emotion Regulation suggests looking for psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers or other licensed providers, and, for the hearing side, an audiologist who specialises in decreased sound tolerance (Duke CMER). Because not every clinician knows the word, Duke suggests describing the problem when you call: a highly distressing over-responsiveness to certain sounds that affects your daily life.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a name for hating the sound of chewing?

Yes: misophonia. It describes strong negative reactions, such as anger, irritation or disgust, to specific sounds, and eating sounds are its most common trigger.

Is hating chewing sounds a disorder?

When the reaction is strong, hard to control and affects your daily life, researchers call it misophonia and describe it as a disorder. It isn't yet listed in the DSM-5 or ICD-11, but an international panel agreed on a consensus definition in 2022.

Is misophonia a phobia?

Usually not. A phobia is driven by fear, while misophonia is mainly driven by irritation, anger and disgust. Some people also feel anxiety, especially when anticipating a trigger.

Why do chewing sounds make me so angry?

Brain imaging studies suggest that in people with misophonia, trigger sounds activate brain regions involved in emotion and attention more strongly, as well as regions linked to mouth movements. The reaction is automatic, not a choice.

Why do chewing sounds bother me more with my family?

Research has found that reactions are often more intense towards loved ones, and the relationship with the person making the sound is one of the factors that changes how strong a reaction is.

Sources

• Swedo S. E. et al. (2022). Consensus Definition of Misophonia: A Delphi Study. Frontiers in Neuroscience.
• Jager I. et al. (2020). Misophonia: Phenomenology, comorbidity and demographics in a large sample. PLOS ONE.
• Schröder A., Vulink N., Denys D. (2013). Misophonia: Diagnostic Criteria for a New Psychiatric Disorder. PLOS ONE.
• Kumar S. et al. (2017). The Brain Basis for Misophonia. Current Biology.
• Kumar S. et al. (2021). The Motor Basis for Misophonia. Journal of Neuroscience.
• Jaswal S. M., De Bleser A. K. F., Handy T. C. (2021). Misokinesia is a sensitivity to seeing others fidget that is prevalent in the general population. Scientific Reports.
• Vitoratou S. et al. (2023). Misophonia in the UK: Prevalence and norms from the S-Five in a UK representative sample. PLOS ONE.
• Henry J. A. et al. (2022). Sound Tolerance Conditions (Hyperacusis, Misophonia, Noise Sensitivity, and Phonophobia): Definitions and Clinical Management. American Journal of Audiology.
• Cleveland Clinic. Misophonia.
• Duke Center for Misophonia and Emotion Regulation. Choosing services.