This is a question out of genuine curiosity and not intended to minimize misophonia in any way:

I do not see any examples of a "naturally occurring" sound there. Is the sound supposed to be human generated in some way? That would feel a bit incongruent with my understanding of it as a pure stimulus response situation.

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ygjb a day ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, natural sounds do trigger it (for me). The difference is that if it is a natural sound, it becomes a problem to be solved - intermittent dripping from taps, the noise of the wheel in my daughters hamster enclosure, or something tapping a window are specific cases I can cite. Those incidents resulted in a) me learning how to replace a leaking faucet assembly (the taps and faucet were one unit) , b) upgrading to a better, quieter hamster wheel, and c) trimming a tree.

When people are the cause it becomes more challenging. People feel attacked when you tell them they are chewing loudly, or they think you are weird when you complain about the sound of the specific pen they are using makes when they are writing on the paper bothers you. Couple misophonia reactions with ADHD justice sensitivity and the emotional reaction can overload my rational comprehension that it is quite normal to make, tolerate, and ignore those sounds to make the stupid fucking meat between my ears feel like I am being targeted by whoever is making the noise. 95% of time I can manage it, but when it gets overwhelming my reactions can be suboptimal (like, wildly inappropriate when I was a kid, but as an adult pulling an Irish goodbye and just leaving, which can be a career limiting move when you are in the workplace).

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rhubarbtree 14 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Not sure whether you'd consider it natural, but I first noticed this with the sound of running taps. The bathroom was next door to my bedroom and I'd often get up and turn the taps off if someone left the bath running... not sure if anyone ever noticed!

Not sure if it's the same for everyone, but for me it's caused by an over-focus on the sound. Once I've noticed it, it's like the sound gets louder and louder...

[edit] I'm fairly sure my Dad was on the spectrum, and the sounds young kids make would make him very distressed, shouting or banging etc. so I don't think it's synthetic vs natural sounds.

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boogieknite a day ago | parent | prev [-]

interesting observation your sibling also made. its commonly described as making the sufferer IRATE at the person causing of the sound which matches your comment

anyone who experiences willing to shed light? id guess if the sufferer expects we all dislike certain sounds, causing them intentionally is especially hateful?

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fluoridation a day ago | parent [-]

Another observation is that they're either idle sounds (pen clicking, finger tapping) or necessary secondary sounds made during some activity. It's literally impossible to unwrap a piece of candy without making some noise, and damn near impossible to stir a liquid without the stirrer hitting the container once.

>id guess if the sufferer expects we all dislike certain sounds, causing them intentionally is especially hateful?

I think it's pointless to attempt to look at it rationally, given the reactions I've heard seem entirely irrational and disproportionate.

I remember one time I was at work and a coworker on the opposite end of the room was using what I thought was the exact same model of mechanical keyboard I was using, with blue switches. I had never realized just how loud those things were until then. I kept glancing at him and could feel myself getting unreasonably annoyed, but I really had no grounds to say anything under any circumstance, given I had been using those very same switches in that same office very recently. What really struck me was how the same noise would sound pleasing when I made it and annoying when someone else made it, and I wondered if I had bothered someone with my typing, or if it was just me. I don't know if I'll use my own keyboard with clicky switches if I share an office with someone again.

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imp0cat 16 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Silent keyboards (and mice!) are a blessing; and not just in an office environment.

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fluoridation 15 hours ago | parent [-]

I wanted to repair a HyperX mouse, but the switches I needed weren't available. I bought ones on a gamble because they were cheap, but they didn't fit, so I gave them away to a friend, and he used them to mod a cheapo mouse. It felt wrong to me for the clicks to make so little noise. He seemed happy with it, though.

	▲	imp0cat 11 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Right, there is definitely a short learning curve where you have to get used to the fact that your mouse button is not making any noise. It almost feels like it must be faulty, but it's not, it's just silent.

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lupire 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That's like hearing one side of a phone conversation, where the utterances are nonsensical because you are missing half the context

When you are typing, the clicking is concordant with your finer movements and the text you are writing. When someone else is typing, it's not.