Yuletide Often Proves to Be a Nightmare for Those with Misophonia.

Lottie anticipates spending time with her family this Christmas, but notes a primary method she'll manage to get through it is by wearing her hearing protection - particularly at the main festive feast.

For the 23-year-old, Christmas is a notably tough season as the noises of people eating, slurping and sniffling trigger extremely uncomfortable.

"I experience this wave of sudden panic, my whole body will just tense up and it as though I'm in danger, and I need to stop these noises."

Lottie has suffered from sound sensitivity since she was 16 and for her that causes the Christmas time "exceptionally stressful".

Misophonia is a reduced tolerance to certain sounds, especially noises produced by those around you.

It's surprisingly common amongst adults. Experts discovered almost one in five people suffer from it.

Typically it's sounds connected to bodily functions that trigger a reaction, along with examples such as crunching, breathing, and repetitive finger tapping.

A Source of Dread

She explains: "I face so many various auditory triggers at the holidays and that can be daunting and make you fear it.

"My family are understanding, but I'm very conscious that I don't want to make other people feel uncomfortable. It's like a constant struggle of enduring my distress to ensure others enjoy themselves."

So it's easy to understand why the supposedly joyous season can quickly turn into a living nightmare for sufferers.

Sounds that may be considered normal, like someone slurping a Buck's fizz, unwrapping gifts, or eating the holiday meal can trigger a powerful reaction that can even result in them withdrawing from gatherings.

The student, a 21-year-old student, who has dealt with sound sensitivity since aged 10, says the approach she intends to use is to put her earphones in to manage the meal. On any other day, she would frequently go in a quiet area to escape distressing triggers.

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

"There's an expectation to socialize with family, and I want to, but it's draining.

"It's like this intense irritation takes hold, which can feel embarrassing, or I'll feel panicked and begin to weep and then fight-or-flight will kick in.

"It can come across as if I'm being oversensitive and dramatic, but it's hard to explain without firsthand experience."

Several Strategies to Cope

For those affected then there are various strategies you can use to handle the situation, based on advice from specialists.

1. Picture a Different Scenario: Creative thinking is crucial. Work on connecting the particular sound affecting you with an unrelated image. So for example, try to envision someone's noisy drinking is just a waterfall. By doing this is to retrain your mind that the sound triggering you poses no threat.
2. Try a Competition: Use lightheartedness and make the irritating noise into a challenge involving the source. As an example, if someone is crunching loudly try joining in. By joining in, instead of feeling like the sound is being imposed on you, you become an willing part. And the game aspect should help redirect your focus and make you a little less affected.
3. Craft a Story: Another technique is to try to invent a reason about the reason someone creating the sound is doing it. So if someone was sniffing, perhaps they're not in good health or maybe they're upset. The idea is re-framing the context of the sound. Even though the noise remains identical, your understanding of it shifts from being aggravating, to feeling a slightly more compassionate about it.