Specifically, the parts of the brain responsible for long-term memories, fear, and other emotions were activated. Using fMRI scans to measure brain activity, the researchers found that the AIC caused much more activity in other parts of the brain during the trigger sounds for those with misophonia than for the control group.

The team's important finding was in a part of the brain that plays a role both in anger and in integrating outside inputs (such as sounds) with inputs from organs such as the heart and lungs: the anterior insular cortex (AIC). No significant difference was found between the groups for the neutral sounds or the disturbing sounds of a baby crying or people screaming. The researchers also noted that persons with misophonia showed much greater physiological signs of stress (increased sweat and heart rate) to the trigger sounds of eating and breathing than those without it. This confirmed that the misophonic persons were far more affected by specific trigger sounds, but don't differ much from others regarding other types of sounds. Both groups rated the unpleasantness of babies crying and people screaming about the same, as they did the neutral sounds. As expected, persons with misophonia rated the trigger sounds of eating and breathing as highly disturbing while those without it did not. They all rated the unpleasantness of different sounds, including common trigger sounds (eating and breathing), universally disturbing sounds (of babies crying and people screaming), and neutral sounds (such as rain). A British-based research team studied 20 adults with misophonia and 22 without it. New research has started to identify causes for misophonia. Misophonia usually appears around age 12, and likely affects more people than we realize. Nonetheless, misophonia is a real disorder and one that seriously compromises functioning, socializing, and ultimately mental health. People who have misophonia often feel embarrassed and don't mention it to healthcare providers - and often healthcare providers haven't heard of it anyway. It affects some worse than others and can lead to isolation, as people suffering from this condition try to avoid these trigger sounds. Misophonia is little studied and we don't know how common it is. The examples above (breathing, yawning, or chewing) create a fight-or-flight response that triggers anger and a desire to escape. People with misophonia are affected emotionally by common sounds - usually those made by others, and usually ones that other people don't pay attention to. Sounds other people don't even seem to notice, drive you up a wall. You might have misophonia. You avoid restaurants because you can't stand the sound of chewing. Your 6-year-old yawns and it triggers a fight-or-flight reaction in you. You hear your spouse breathing nearby and you instantly get angry.

Annoying sounds that start with c