Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Individuals Living with Sound Sensitivity.

A 23-year-old hopes for being with her relatives over the holidays, but says one of the only ways she'll cope is by using her earplugs - especially during the main festive feast.

For the 23-year-old, the holidays is a particularly difficult period as the sounds of other people chewing, sipping loudly and sniffling trigger extremely uncomfortable.

"There's this wave of sudden panic, my entire being will just tighten and it as though I'm in a threatening situation, and I need to manage these triggers."

Lottie has experienced sound sensitivity from a young age and for her that causes the holiday period "deeply taxing".

Misophonia is a decreased threshold to specific noises, particularly those coming from individuals.

It's surprisingly common in the UK. A study found nearly 20% people experience it.

Typically it's noises connected to eating or drinking that cause distress, including examples such as crunching, breathing, and pen clicking.

Triggering Stress

She explains: "You encounter so many various auditory triggers at Christmas and that can be daunting and make you dread it.

"My family are aware, but I'm very aware that I don't want to upset others. It's like a really big battle of sacrificing my own sanity to guarantee the event goes smoothly."

So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous season can rapidly become a source of agony for those with the condition.

Noises that may appear innocuous, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, unwrapping gifts, or eating the holiday meal can provoke a visceral feeling that can even cause them withdrawing from gatherings.

She, a university student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity for over a decade, says the approach she intends to use is to use headphones to cope. Typically, she would usually isolate herself in a separate space to avoid problematic noises.

She says her condition is more intense around people she's most comfortable with, so Christmas is always "hard".

"People assume you to socialize with family, and I desire to, but it's physically and mentally challenging.

"The sensation is this intense irritation takes hold, which can feel shameful, or I'll feel anxious and begin to weep and then the stress response will activate.

"It can come across as if I'm being difficult and dramatic, but it's difficult to convey if you haven't felt it."

A Few Techniques to Handle It

If you suffer then there are various strategies you can attempt to manage the situation, according to experts.

1. Picture Something Else: Creative thinking is key. Try to associate the triggering sound affecting you with something completely different. So for example, try to imagine someone's noisy drinking is just a gentle stream. This technique is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you isn't harmful.
2. Use Humor: Introduce playfulness and turn the annoying sound into a competition involving the source. For example, if someone is crunching loudly attempt copying the noise. Through participation, rather than feeling like the sound is unwanted, you become an active participant. And the competition element should help distract your brain and make you a little less affected.
3. Develop a Narrative: One more method is to try to create a little story about why the person making the noise is doing it. Imagine if someone was making a nasal sound, it could be that they're not at their best or maybe they're upset. By doing this is altering the perception of the sound. Even though the noise remains identical, your interpretation of it changes from being annoying, to feeling a little more neutral towards it.