In everyday life, we are constantly exposed to different sources of noise, whether car noises or just people who speak a little louder than they should, it can quickly become tiring. There are nevertheless noises more annoying than others that some people find particularly unbearable, to the point of putting them in a bad mood and forcing them to flee the company of others.
Noises that are disturbing but not for everyone
You should probably have a family member or close friend who not only chews his / her food as it should, but does it very loudly. And the worry is that if you ever tell him that it bothers you, he will not understand how it can make you nervous. Moreover, it is even possible that the noise produced by chewing is barely audible but that you are so sensitive that you will have trouble supporting it.
In fact, if such a noise disturbs you to the highest degree, if other sounds like squealing or crying babies make you crazy, it is very possible that you are a genius. The researchers found that people who are more disturbed by these surrounding noises have a higher level of intelligence than others. It is for this reason that you should not worry about the sensitivity you have to strange noises. And if they stop you from focusing on what you're doing, it might signal that you're a creative person.
A well-known feature of scientists
Of course, scientists have already given a name to this increased sensitivity: misophony. Moreover, the researchers who have studied the question have come to the conclusion that 20% of the people around us live this condition which makes them extremely attentive to specific noises such as wheezing, chewing etc ... This means at the same time that these people are able to hear sounds that the remaining 80% can not even notice. This generally gives rise to misunderstandings since the 20% are atrociously disturbed by noises that others ignore completely.
But let's go back to the starting point of our investigation about misophony, this rather special condition that makes you very irritable about certain noises. Researchers say this increases your chances of being smarter and more creative than average. But how is this possible?
Studies conducted by Northwestern University in the state of Illinois in the United States, have shown that people suffering from such a condition were more likely to be geniuses or to be extremely creative. They would be even better at retaining the information they receive and learning for much longer than normal people.
This would be explained by the fact that these same individuals who are annoyed by sounds, in fact have an ability to filter the "irrelevant" sensory information less important than normal. Thus, a less strict filtering of sensory data allows to acquire information and ideas that many people naturally do not consider as priorities. This "leak" is suddenly the one that causes this exaggerated auditory sensitivity. Nevertheless, it also means that these people who are hypersensitive to noise absolutely need calm to be able to concentrate on the tasks to be done.
This research should enable many people around us who, until then, had difficulty understanding such sensibility, to learn to treat it instead of rejecting it. This should encourage you, if you suffer from misophonie, to talk to your partner for example to avoid potentially conflicting situations.
