Most people are familiar with the shoulder-shuddering effect of hearing nails on a chalkboard. For people with misophonia, this skin-crawling sensation can occur from any type of sound. Also referred to as sound sensitivity syndrome, misophonia is characterized by a strong emotional and physical response to specific sounds. While the sound triggers vary from person to person, they often bring on feelings of anger, anxiety and other negative emotions.
Because the emotional impact of misophonia can be so severe, effective management is crucial to ensure overall well-being. Three management techniques include noise-canceling headphones, hearing aids and therapy.
Noise-Cancelling Headphones
Because certain noises trigger misophonia, wearing noise-cancelling headphones can help manage your symptoms. For instance, if you are sitting in Penny Lane Coffeehouse and start to find the chatter of voices or milk steaming irritating, your noise-canceling headphones can help block out these triggers, allowing you to focus on enjoying your latte in peace.
Hearing Aids
Hearing aids help manage misophonia through a concept called sound masking. Sound masking, often used to manage tinnitus or hyperacusis, works by generating a calming white noise to cover the sound causing emotional distress. Hearing aids are an excellent option to mask misophonia sounds during the day. Sound machines can help bridge the gap at night when you cannot wear hearing aids.
If you already wear hearing aids to manage hearing loss, tinnitus or hyperacusis, consider speaking to your hearing specialist to see if your devices can help you manage misophonia.
Therapy
While mental health therapies cannot cure misophonia, they can help you identify and minimize your triggers and develop coping strategies to reduce your adverse emotional or physical reactions. If your misophonia is tied to other conditions like anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder, managing these other conditions through mental health therapy may be necessary.
The best way to begin managing your misophonia is to make an appointment with a hearing specialist for a diagnosis. Because misophonia can mimic tinnitus and hyperacusis symptoms, your specialist can help ensure you get the right diagnosis and treatment plan. Contact Hearing Healthcare Center, Inc. today to make an appointment with one of our hearing specialists.