Overreaction to sound

Bloe Joggs

This has been on my mind for some time but for as long as I can remember, my dad overreacts to certain noises. If for example he hears what would normally be considered a quite innocuous sound like someone shouting on the street, he bolts out of his chair and rushes outside, expecting the worst. Even a mild thud of the type you hear coming from a plumbing installation and he's running upstairs to check for burglars. A lot of times I don't even register the original sound as it didn't really grab my attention (I had my hearing checked recently during an industrial medical and it's fine) but he goes something like "did you hear that?"...or..."What was that?".. running around the house or out to the street looking up and down, when it was probably just a van reversing or someone kicking a football against a wall.

He insists that he just has really sensitive hearing but for me it's not what he hears but his reaction to it that I find quite odd. Is this more common than I might think and is there any sort of name for it?

ItIsThatGirl

It's called misophonia. Misophonia is when you have a hatred for sounds. Misophonia, literally "hatred of sound", is a neurological disorder in which negative experiences (anger, flight, hatred, disgust) are triggered by specific sounds. The sounds can be loud or soft. It's not something totally uncommon so there are other people like your dad. There are cures though. Your dad should stay away from foods like lemon, vinegar and stuff containing baking soda - something to do with neurotoxic chemicals that can affect your hearing sensitivity. Your dad should try eat foods with more magnesium in it, things like fish and brown rice. You don't even have to tell your dad about that, you could simply cook up something to be nice ! He could go to Psychotherapeutic hypnotherapy or Occupational therapy but if your dads anything like my father, he won't go! But do try the food thing, there's loads of iformation online about it if you just type up ' misophonia' Good luck ^_^

Bloe Joggs

Hmmm, so I did a little reading up on Misophonia and it doesn't seem to be the same thing. Sounds themselves don't bug him. The sorts of sounds he reacts to are almost always at, or perceived to be at some distance and he automatically assumes they are to do with something seriously dangerous having happened. It's not really the sound itself but the situation he associates it with, which usually turns out to be something quite normal and not dangerous at all. Interestingly, if he sees something dangerous happening on TV, even if it's a stunt in a movie, he can sometimes react the same way. He couldn't sit through a whole episode of road wars for example, he'd have a heart attack. It seems to be more of an anxiety thing but it's such a cliché these days to nail everything to anxiety that I'm just wondering if there are any other specific things that it could be.