New Delhi: Scientists have decoded the mystery behind why the sound caused by chewing anything or continous pen clicking annoys us.
Your brain may be wired to go into overdrive on hearing such trigger noises, researchers including one of Indian-origin have found.
Researchers from Newcastle University in the UK found the physical basis for people suffering from a condition called misophonia, a disorder where they have a hatred of sounds such as eating, chewing or repeated pen clicking.
Called "trigger sounds" by the misophonia community, the response can be an immediate and intense fight or flight feeling.
The researchers report the first evidence of clear changes in the structure of the brain's frontal lobe in sufferers of misophonia and also report changes in the brain activity.
Brain imaging showed that people with the condition have an abnormality in the emotional control mechanism which causes their brains to go into overdrive on hearing trigger sounds.
Researchers also found brain activity originated from a different connectivity pattern to the frontal lobe.
This is normally responsible for suppressing the abnormal reaction to sounds.
The researchers also found that trigger sounds evoked a heightened physiological response with increased heart rate and sweating in people with misophonia.
(With PTI inputs)
