In his column of the day in the morning of Europe 1, Friday, Jimmy Mohamed looks at the sounds.

But not just any: those which deeply irritate certain people, who are then qualified as misophones.

One in six French people suffer from this pathology.

Explanations.

This ranges from certain noises with the mouth, such as for example chewing gum, too loud breathing, the click of the pen, to the tapping of the fingers on a keyboard. Harmless sounds for many, but extremely irritating for some people, who suffer from misophonia, a pathology with blurred outlines but which interests researchers. On Europe 1, Friday morning, Doctor Jimmy Mohamed examines this not so rare hatred of the noises made by others.

"It is a rather unknown phobia, but quite widespread. It corresponds to the aversion or the detestation of certain sounds produced by another person. These noises, completely harmless for the common man, will be perceived as unbearable by the misophone, that is to say the one who suffers from misophonia. This rather poorly understood disorder would affect about one in six French people, while ASMR explodes. "

Is it really a phobia?

“Misophonia literally means 'hatred of sound.' Misophone patients will therefore first experience significant irritability along with a feeling of disgust, which will quickly turn into a feeling of anger.

They will also feel like they are losing control and will put in place clear avoidance strategies.

Rather than hearing the noises of a spouse's mouth, the misophone will exclude himself from the meal and go to eat elsewhere, often in front of the television, so that the noise of the television covers that of chewing.

Others will put on earplugs, listen to music, or even talk to themselves to relax. "

>> Find Jimmy Mohamed's column every morning at 8:37 am on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here

How to explain it?

There would certainly be an initial conditioning, that is to say that the person who is not going to put up with this noise of the mouth will associate this noise with negative emotions since his childhood, then his adolescence.

Each sound of mouth will resurface this association.

This conditioning phenomenon will create stress and hyper-attention.

The more focused you are on a noise, the more afraid and annoyed you will be.

We have also recently noticed that the brain of misophones is slightly different from others, with over-activation of certain areas.

But paradoxically, not necessarily those related to sounds.

Anyway, even if everything is not yet fully elucidated, the suffering is real.

It is possible to be helped, because therapies exist. "