Misophonia and an amusing thread on Reddit about the topic

Misophonia, literally “hatred of sound,” is a form of decreased sound tolerance. It is characterized by negative experiences resulting only from specific sounds, whether loud or soft, and is often used interchangeably with the term Selective Sound Sensitivity.^[1] The term was coined by American neuroscientists Pawel Jastreboff and Margaret Jastreboff.^[2]

Unlike hyperacusis, misophonia is specific for certain sounds. Little is known about the anatomical location of the physiological abnormality that causes such symptoms but it is most likely high central nervous system structures.^[3] It is believed to result from abnormally strong connections between the autonomic and limbicsystems in the brain, rather than over-activity of the auditory system. A subcortical route within non-classical auditory pathways may be indicated in the condition.^[4]Misophonia appears to reflect the auditory symptoms of sensory processing disorder, which typically presents in multiple sensory modes, but more research is needed to understand if, or how the conditions may be related.^[5]

Symptoms

People who have misophonia are most commonly annoyed, or even enraged, by such ordinary sounds as other people eating, breathing, sniffing, or coughing; certain consonants; or repetitive sounds.^[6]^[7] People with misophonia may be diagnosed with mood or anxiety disorders as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder. Though a few sufferers are bothered by sounds they make themselves, most are not.^[7] The reactions are completely involuntary.

People who have misophonia may also be annoyed by other people's repetitive movements, such as leg-tapping, nail-biting, the rising and falling of the belly, and typing.^[8]

Sensitivity to these sounds tends to be exacerbated by anger, stress, hunger, sadness, or fatigue.

The onset of the symptoms appears to have a characteristic pattern, often in childhood just prior to or during puberty. Often there is a single initial trigger (such as a parent's or sibling's noises), after which the triggers expand over time to include both auditory or visual elements. It is speculated that there is a genetic basis for this disorder as the etiological data supports a similar pattern of emergence, but this remains to be determined.

A fascinating look at one tiny aspect of the interconnectedness of modern life, the delivery of pizza

So interesting how a log can be cut

Enjoying looking around the New York Public Library's digital images

Far away / Shines a single ray. (1865)

Hiroshige: New Year’s Eve foxfires at the changing tree, Oji, 1857

Dressed.

Die Gänsehirtin am Brunnen. [Goose-Girl at the well.] (1895)

Undressed.

Hans, der kleine Däumling. (1884)

... the Stars/That nature hung in Heav'n, and fill'd their Lamps/With everlasting oil, to give due light/To the misled a... (1921)

The prince with the wounded hind (1896)

Guiana in story and pictures. (1944)

Durochka's grave. (1916)

Where the waterfall piped in the shrillest of trebles / Hop o' my Thumb filled his pocket with pebbles. (1865)

The Sun-Child and the Queen. (1926)

Inside a camel's mouth is pretty strange looking. "The lining of the camel’s mouth is very tough, to enable the animal to eat whatever it can digest, when food is scarce. This way, it can eat thorny cactus plants without injuring its mouth."