You may actually be wired differently than the rest of us. Coined in 2001, the term for this condition is “misophonia” and there were doubts as to whether it was real or not. But that has been laid to rest by a study recently published in the Journal, Current Biology.
Scientists looked at the brain as it was reacting to neutral sounds such as rain falling; known irritating sounds like babies crying; and, sounds made by chewing or breathing that are neutral to most of us. The people who had misophonia had bodies that overreacted to the breathing and chewing sounds with an increase in heart rate and more sweating and it turned out that not only were certain areas of their brain hypersensitive to these sounds, they were also differently connected to an area of the brain that is responsible for how we react to the world around us.
So there is a definite biological basis for misophonia and with this knowledge we may not only be able to better diagnose people who have this condition but tailor therapy based on biofeedback or other initiatives that will help them.