Does the Sound of a Person Chewing Gum Drive You Crazy?

I mean, to the point you want to punch your first into a wall? I just found out it has a name: Misophonia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia



• Hmm I''ve heard of people hating when people chew gum, the guy I''m dating now is one of them, but not specifically the sound of it.

• Chewing gum in any social situation = the very definition of trailer trash.

• I hate it. Especially when they crack it and blow bubbles. Ick.

• I had a coworker who constantly popped and smacked her chewing gum. The noise was so loud people on my phone could hear her. Everyone wore headphones to muffle the sound. %0D\ %0D\ When someone complained, she told HR she had to chew gum for health reasons, and that was that. We all celebrated when she transferred to another department.%0D\ %0D\ A month later she was replaced by a woman who munched ice cubes.

  Roseanne Roseannadanna was right.

• Thanks, OP. Now I have a "condition" to take to HR!

• No, but I hate to see people chewing gum. It''s nasty.

• I have it. Didn''t know it was an "it" ''til now. Really wish I didn''t. Especially since it seems like gum-chewers always manage to have to sit next to me wherever I go. I think it''s like cats - how they always gravitate to the allergic.

• [quote]A month later she was replaced by a woman who munched ice cubes.\ \ Ice cube munchers are MANY times worse than anyone who pops gum. I also deal with an office bitch that sits down with a huge cup of ice every god damned afternoon. I want to tell her that it''s indicative of health issues, but I dont like her enough to say anything.\ \ I dont mind gum chewing as my mom chewed gum a lot. And watching a guy''s jaw work on a piece of gum can be sexy.

• I agree about ice chewers.%0D\ %0D\ What really grosses me out is popping knuckles. %0D\ 2nd runner up... my boss clipping his fingernails in the office. Why on earth would you do that at the office.

• I''m always flabbergasted when I see an attractive seemingly intelligent person, male or female (usually female) start chomping,smacking slurping and sucking on a wad of gum, and they plummet from attractive and seemingly intelligent to annoying ignorant cows.\ Some people can keep up the cow act non-stop for hours.

• The sound of gum-chewing is worse than fingers down a chalkboard. I also hate the sound of whistling and humming.

• ok, the gum thing... at times I do chew gum. i don''t smack.%0D\ %0D\ I am a former smoker. I know it sounds odd.. but it helps at craving time, even years later.

• Doesn''t bother me nearly as much as the sound of someone clipping their nails.

• God I have this so bad. Makes me insane. Closely followed by the sound of people who slam the shit out of their keyboards when they type.

• People who clip nails in public are disgusting.%0D\ %0D\ Gum chewing? I actually like the sound. Don''t know why.

• Only if they do it with their mouth open or constantly pop it.

• I don''t care about people chewing gum in the least. At least they''re not smoking. And people do all kinds of things to relieve stress. Some people use worry beads, some people stretch, some people turn their necks from side to side. If it relieves their stress and helps them cope, that''s fine with me. better that than some person freaking out or being mean.

• Chewing anything with one''s mouth open is pretty gross.

• awwww, you sound like a very lovely person r17.%0D\ %0D\ r15, I love that you like the sound of chewing gum. It''s just funny. Never heard that.%0D\ %0D

  the former smoker

• Yes! And lip-smacking or people who chew with their mouths wide open. I don''t like slobbery mouth sounds unless I''m receiving a blow-job.

• Doesn''t it seem like chewing ice would be bad for your teeth?

• If they pop their gum. I''ve never heard men do it, just cube fraus. Thankfully I now work from home the majority of time but if I have to go in, I have my headphones on a high volume. BTW, I worked with a woman who claimed she popped gum because of her wisdom teeth surgery. Really.

• Probably 21, but according to dentists, what ISN''T bad for your teeth?

• 4 out of 5 dentists recommend sugarless gum

• For their patients who chew gum.

• Yeah well any beverage that isn''t non-carbonated water is bad for your teeth. And fruit. Cough drops. Juice. Bread.\ \ If I avoided everything that''s supposed to be bad for my teeth and did every thing the dentist told me to do... my whole life would be tooth oriented.

• Whistling drives me crazy. WTF do people have to impose their shrill sounds on others?%0D

• I cannot stand to hear the sound of a graphite pencil writing. I can tolerate a mechanical pencil, but I pretty much always did my math homework in pen when I was in school.

• r28, you have great hearing..

• Thanks OP, cuz I used to think I was being irrational. You know, with wanting to slap the gum chewer and all. Seriously. I think it just shows an utter lack of class when someone chews gum in public like they are a cow chewing on cud.

• I also don''t like people breathing on my food or drinks. I avoid buffets.

• I also like it when people lightly lick their fingers to turn pages. I have never done that in my life, but I find there''s is something oddly comforting about watching someone else do it. I also like the sounds if dishwashers and washing machines.

  r15

• I don''t so much care about gum chewing unless there is smacking involved. Smacking and popping gum is an aggressive, hostile act. I think people who do it know that it irritates everyone and they do it anyway hoping for a confrontation. Or they do it gleefully knowing others WON''T confront them but will silently seeth with annoyance. From my experience, loud gum smackers are mostly black women with an attitude.

  What are you lookin'' at? You got a problem?

• I also hate the sound of water dripping. \ \ So that''s gum-chewing, whistling, humming and water dripping so far. And the nail clipping sound, too. Even when I clip my own nails, I try to muffle the sounds as much as possible, I just hate it so much. \ \ Oh, and mouth-breathers. That also drives me nuts. Some people have to do that, though, so can''t hate on them.

• Wait, someone else is smacking, chewing with his or her mouth open, attacking his food like a rabid wolf, and not liking to have to listen to it (or see the food swirling around like a front-loading washing machine) is MY disorder?

  if you say so...

• Some of you people wouldn''t have survived childhood in a Third World country.

  Betel Nut Chewer

• Who''d want to R36?

• waiting. at jiffy lube. in a booth. with an old man. retired sneakers. baseball cap. cheesy apps blaring on an exhausted cell phone. him smacking the hell out of that rubbery cud. his arrogant chewing expression begging to be humbled.

  blt

• Used to work with a woman who would smack gum and then blow a bubble and suck it back up, over and over again. I could have literally shot her and not felt bad.

• I hate standing in line or sitting on a bus and the person behind you is chewing gum like its a piece of steak, I just want to turn round and slap them. One of my pet peeves its rude and disgusting all rolled into one.

  anonymous

• gum smacking is just gross, and blowing bubbles past the age of 10 is just ludicrus.\ I can''t stand nail clippers either and told my roomate to take it to his room or the bathroom (we were watching t.v. and he started it,,so I told him)\ another is eating with the mouth open or making noises like smacking..quel horror

• I feel so validated.

• Thank you OP. I never knew being annoyed by certain sounds was a condition. I have it. It''s gotten worse over the years. Slamming doors, loud foot steps, sneezing and dropping things are other very annoying sounds to me. Like a previous poster, I am comforted by people licking their index finger before turning a page. Hearing rain on my roof is the most comforting sound for me.

• There is this one girl at work who chews like a cow for hours on end... smacking and popping her gum. She must have chompers like the jaws of life from all that exercise! It sounds really disgusting and I dread working with her. I also found out that she doesn''t wash her hands after sitting on the toilet...BIG surprise!

• The sound of someone popping their gum, especially in an office setting is beyong irritating! I think it's extremely rude and i dont understand why people think everyone else around them wants to hear the constant smacking and popping. This manager in my office, while i think she's a great person is one of the worst gum popping offenders... she'll do it WHILE she's talking to you. The sound makes my body cringe in pain. Her desk is 15 feet away from mine but her popping is so incredibly loud it is as if she's right behind my ear... And she does it every 5 seconds i swear...ugh. i hate it!

  Aaron

• So it's any repetitive sound per Wiki: then I have it for people dribbling basketballs while walking and for hovering helicopters. Drives me crazy.

• How do you make them stop??

• I have a couple of questions for those of you who are annoyed by these types of noises. Do you consider your hearing normal or better than normal? Do soundtracks/laugh tracks sometimes annoy you too? I really wish there was a mute button for some of them...like the laugh tracks for sit-coms and the background music on many of the HGTV shows.

• I cannot tolerate the sound of people eating wheat.

  Gluten%20Intolerant

• Or the sound of babies breast feeding...

  Lactose%20Intolerant

• Being around blacks, gays and Mexicans.

  just%20Intolerant

• You mean like this, OP?

  http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dftbm8EZZDqI%26feature%3Dyoutube_gdata_player

  Alice

• OP, I cannot stand gum chewing. Cannot stand seeing people chewing gum. I think it is a rude habit, terrible to watch, and makes them look like ignorant imbeciles and cows. And those who really work their jaws in excessive motion or open their mouths while chewing gum have terrible manners and appear ignorant. I noticed a good number of delegates at the National Republican Convention this week were chewing gums and wracking their jaws in motion while seated during the speeches.

• I can't even describe the feeling I get when I see someone chew gum, not to mention, if I hear them!!! It is gross and offensive to chew gum in public and people, who chew gum can't imagine what it is like for people like me, who hate gum so much. I can't go out of my house without hearing someone smack bubbles or open their mouth, so that all their insides are visible. Imagine, if every person on a bus started scratching a chalk board.... that would drive most people insane. Well, it is the same for me and chewing gum, except that when I get on a bus, every other person really IS chewing gum. I can't walk on the street or ride any form of public transport without music in my ears because of this... It is really annoying and very very stressful! I hope, someday, every person, who has ever teased me with gum can experience, what I experience every day of my life. No offense. Cheers.

• i like chewing myself its fine but when someone else is chewing and im not i hate it especially if its right in my ear!!!!!!!!! I LOVE JAHNIKA CHADWICK

• What drive's me insane is people making sucking noises with their teeth after they've eaten. That has made me want to slap said person silly. To me that's way worse than gum chewing. The other sound that freaks me out is people swallowing loudly while they drink--that glug, glug, glug sound. It has only occurred to me after I heard Kelly Ripa talk about it on her show that I may actually have misophonia too. In my case it's pretty circumscribed. Doesn't tooth sucking bother everyone??

• You know how people have these little habits that get you down? Like Ernie. Ernie liked to chew gum. No, no chew... POP! So I came home this one day (and I am really irritated) and I'm looking for a little bit of sympathy, and there's Ernie layin' on the couch, drinkin' a beer, and chewin'. No, not chewing... POPPIN'! So I said to him, I said, 'You pop that gum one more time...' and he did. So I took the shotgun off the wall and fired three warning shots... into his head!

  If%20you%27d%20have%20heard%20it%2C%20I%20betcha%20you%20would%20have%20done%20t

• It drives me nuts sometimes when I'm in a movie theater and I become aware of everyone eating popcorn. Their smacking sounds as they eat really can bug if I tune into it. However, I realize people have a perfect right to eat popcorn in a movie theater (unlike some nutty control freak dataloungers, who pop a gasket at the idea and want everyone completely silent like they're at the fucking Festspielhaus in Bayreuth when they're watching "Knocked Up" at the Regal multiplex).

• Can someone explain why so many people must chew gum? What is it exactly that motivates them to do this low class, cow chewing cud-like activity?

• This entire thread rates a huge MARY! When I was in school I had a job in a real estate office. It wasn't in the greatest location and I was alone most of the time with a lot of cash because we managed properties. It always made me a little nervous. One of the partners, a very quiet loner, would come in and work on the accounts when no one else was around. He always chewed gum, and he cracked it. It became a comforting sound to me because it meant I wasn't alone.

• I don't even notice when people chew gum. When I was growing up, people smoked everywhere. I mean everywhere. Why would I notice gum chewing when places used to smell like shit from the stinky cigar butts old men used to chew on and spit out? And spitting was another common thing. Right on the street. Hacking and spewing various colored gobs of mucus. I also lived in NYC during the homeless years. You couldn't walk two blocks without being tripped by some bum lying on the sidewalk or someone bugging you for money. If you didn't live through it, you can't imagine what it was like. Then there was crime. Mugging, random face-punching. Cars constantly broken into for radios. I had a one month old car stolen within 45 minutes one day. I used to look out the window at night and watch people steal cars. Sure, I called the police at first. A cruiser would show up an hour and a half later, when the cars were on I-95, heading south. Then there was "wilding," which was real. I lived near an express subway stop. The gangs would run up the subway stairs, onto the streets and into a shop, steal jackets, sneakers, small electronics, run back down the stairs and be on the next subway before the storekeepers knew what happened.. You would welcome gum chewing or knuckle popping if you lived through those things. Honestly, no wonder you people are put on so many drugs by your psychiatrists.

• In a word: No

  It%20Doesn%27t%20Bother%20Me

• It drives me fucking insane. There is a guy siting a seat over from me on the bus at this very moment slurping and chewing on some gum without a care in the world. Why did i forget my headphones. Want to lash out