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Neurology Times​, sounds that are commonly misophonia triggers are; “​Chewing noises are probably the most common trigger, but other sounds such as slurping, crunching, mouth noises, tongue clicking, sniffling, tapping, joint cracking, nail clipping, and the infamous nails on the chalkboard.” Nonetheless, while it is not trauma that causes the response people with misophonia have, they do develop sound triggers. Also, the response is not something they are born with, they hear that sound under a specific situation that is most likely stress inducing and then develop a misophonic trigger from it.
Next there is the genetic cause, studies on this are still unclear but scientists believe they have found a genetic marker in association with rage and aggravation of specific sounds. The genes name is TENM2 and a study on the Misophonia contractors shows that most people with the change in the DNA sequence commonly have an irritation to the sound of chewing, which is a sound trigger commonly related to misophonia. The thing about this gene is, it had no significant impact on reflexes that misophonia contractors have. However, scientists believe this gene is affecting the genes surrounding it to the irritation most misophonic contractors associate with the sound of chewing. The gene is involved with brain development and helps cells to communicate with one another, the relevance this communication cell has to misophonia is
best summed up by this source ​Why does the sound of chewing annoy us?​, it states, “ teneurin-m proteins are largely found in our brain where they play a role in neuron growth and formation... Scientists studying misophonia have suggested that people with this condition may have some sort of neural change that results in increased awareness of patterned noises, or increased association of emotion with external stimuli... changes in the ​TENM2 gene could result in altered neuronal patterning, and a predisposition to misophonia.” While this is a mouth full the gist of this is that, a neural change or change in neural patterning causes predispositioning which is speculated to cause increased awareness of noises which is misophonia. This neural change is thought to be caused by the TENM2 gene which will inevitably lead to misophonia. However, as previously stated, this is all mere speculation based on evidence that is seen in a repetitive study on multiple people with misophonia, while evident it is not necessarily a conclusion.
Though, the link in the genetic cause of Misophonia brings us to the next point, how does it affect the brain? Or rather, what in the brain is misophonia affecting? The reflexes misophonia causes are similar to a fight or flight reaction, the parts in the brain where misophonia stem from is the limbic system and autonomic nervous system. Misophonia commonly described as an involuntary physical and emotional reflex caused by these sounds.
Be Well Community Newsletter: Spring 2020