misophonia

[ mees-oh-foh-nee-uh ]

noun

1. Psychiatry. a condition characterized by extreme sensitivity and reactivity to specific, typically repetitive and relatively soft sounds, as breathing, chewing, swallowing, clicking, etc.:

   In patients with misophonia, an auditory stimulus provoked an immediate physical reaction, with anger, disgust, and sometimes even impulsive aggression.

Other Words From

• mis·o·phon·ic [mees-oh-, fon, -ik, -, foh, nik], adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of misophonia¹

miso- ( def ) + Greek -phōnia ( -phony ( def ) ); coined by audiologists Pawel J. and Margaret M. Jastreboff in 2001