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By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News website
Why some people become enraged by sounds such as eating or breathing has been
explained by brain scan studies.
The condition, misophonia, is far more than simply disliking noises such as
nails being scraped down a blackboard.
"I feel there's a threat and get the urge to lash out - it's the fight or
flight response," says Olana Tansley-Hancock, 29, from Kent.
UK scientists have shown some people's brains become hardwired to produce an
"excessive" emotional response.
Olana developed the condition when she was eight years old. Her trigger sounds
include breathing, eating and rustling noises.
She told BBC News: "Anyone eating crisps is always going to set me off, the
rustle of the packet is enough to start a reaction.
"It's not a general annoyance, it's an immediate 'Oh my God, what is that
sound?' I need to get away from it or stop it'.
"I spent a long time avoiding places like the cinema. I'd have to move
carriages seven or eight times on 30-minute train journeys, and I left a job
after three months as I spent more time crying and having panic attacks than
working."
Scientists, including Olana, at multiple centres in the UK scanned the brains
of 20 misophonic people and 22 people without the condition.
They were played a range of noises while they were in the MRI machine,
including:
neutral sounds such as rain
generally unpleasant sounds such as screaming
people's trigger sounds
The results, published in the journal Current Biology, revealed the part of the
brain that joins our senses with our emotions - the anterior insular cortex -
was overly active in misophonia.
And it was wired up and connected to other parts of the brain differently in
those with misophonia.
Dr Sukhbinder Kumar, from Newcastle University, told BBC News: "They are going
into overdrive when they hear these sounds, but the activity was specific to
the trigger sounds not the other two sounds.
"The reaction is anger mostly, it's not disgust, the dominating emotion is the
anger - it looks like a normal response, but then it is going into overdrive."
There are no treatments, but Olana has developed coping mechanisms such as
using ear plugs.
She also knows caffeine and alcohol make the condition worse, "which is
rubbish".
"But I have a relatively mild case and am still able to have a job, I know a
lot of people who aren't able to have that, I feel quite fortunate really," she
said.
It is still not clear how common the disorder is, as there is no clear way of
diagnosing it and it was only recently discovered.
Ultimately, the researchers hope, understanding the difference in the
misophonic brain will lead to new treatments.
Targeted electricity
One idea is that low levels of targeted electricity passed through the skull,
which is known to adjust brain function, could help.
Tim Griffiths, a professor of cognitive neurology at Newcastle University and
University College London, said: "I hope this will reassure sufferers.
"I was part of the sceptical community myself until we saw patients in the
clinic and understood how strikingly similar the features are.
"We now have evidence to establish the basis for the disorder through the
differences in brain control mechanism in misophonia."