If you were my co-worker and told me that the sound of chewing near you drives you crazy, I'd do my best not to eat at my desk or anywhere near you. Dang. That must suck for you.

If your current job environment doesn't allow you to keep sane either fight until it does, or find another that is more accomodating. Look into all of your ADA and FMLA options. Taking time off to care for yourself can be covered under the FMLA.

Replacing a good employee is very expensive for an employer. I would suspect (or at least hope) that yours will work with you to find a solution.

LW, your letter is one of the weirdest things I've ever heard of, but Dude. I'm so sorry. Never in a million years would I have imagined that the sound of lips could cause mental anguish.

Your life is both weird and sucky.

Although the LW hints at having hyperacusis, he didn't describe other sounds or environments as unbearable or intolerable. After ruling out the medical condition, I would suggest a thorough psychological evaluation at a clinic specialized in anxiety disorders because the LW might have developed a (probably rare) phobia (which would be consistent with the anticipatory anxiety symptoms and hyper-physiological arousal that occurs before and after hearing these sounds). Good news-- phobias are extremely treatable and respond well to a cognitive-behavioral therapy that includes exposure, in which the LW would gradually confront the feared situation. In this therapy, the LW could learn important ways to relax (deep breathing, muscle relaxation) and re-formulate his thoughts (the cognitive therapy component) about how much he is distressed in this situation. I wish him well!

(Disclaimer: I am a psychologist-in-training, with a specialization in anxiety disorders).

My 17 year old daughter suffers from this very same problem.

I cannot eat cereal in the morning if she is in the kitchen, one of us has to leave the room. She also has problems with gum chewers at school, and has been near the point of tears numerous times because of one particular classmate's gum chewing. She also reacts in a similar manner to outside noises like children playing or dogs barking.

It's very strange; noises that my wife and I are not even noticing will be driving her crazy, like a dog barking. Once she comments about it, we then notice the noise, but not before then.

Her reactions can border on near hysteria, and there is absolutely no way to reason with her or use logic to explain how truly innocuous the noises are.

She really seems to perceive the noises differently that we do.

Noises at events like college football games and rock concerts do not bother her, however.

We have been to many medical care providers to address this issue, like an audiologist, a psychologist, and a neurologist.

The consensus seems to be that her problem is psychological, and perhaps a symptom of post tramatic stress syndrome related to a major surgey she had about 2 years ago, which makes some sense because her noise problem did not start until a few months after the surgery.

We use ambient noise machines, an Ipod, and similar devices to help her deal with noise, but they really only mask the problem.

Obviously, such a problem makes it very difficult to function in any type of social setting.

She's gotten slowly better the last several months, especially after we took her off Concerta which was being used to treat her ADD.

I wonder if the author of the letter has ADD or other medical issues that might be contributing to his hyper-sensitivity to noise?

I suffer from the same complaint and life has always been very difficult for me - a particular current problem is the sound of people's ipods and similar machines. I have very acute hearing generally and the music (bass distorted) is clearly audible to me. Mobile phone conversations are also intensely painful though I find it odd that a normal overheard conversation is unproblematic.

Anyway might I suggest the judicious use of earplugs. They alone make travel in public transport bearable (I live in London and do not have a car). You could also try wearing them at meals. They might reduce the unwanted sound while still leaving you able to talk. I can hear and speak perfectly well with them. I suggest foam ones rather than wax; the latter dislodge when you talk.

I have found pretty constant use of earplugs has helped with my problem. At one time doctors suggested that I undergo partial deafening and I am I suppose glad I never went that far.

At some point in my childhood I developed this and I had, until your letter, NO idea there was even a name for it. Cereal, gum chewing, apples...all torture.

I do find I can manage it to a certain extent by breathing in and out slowly, trying to focus on the breathing and not the sound of someone eating. Sometimes though, there's nothing for it but to make a strategic dash to the ladies until the crunchy bread roll has been eaten.

Ignore the letters from people deriding you - it's a very real issue, and I feel your pain.

Much of Cary's response is not going to help iPod Blaster. I have mild and intermittently moderate hyperacusis. It is not what iPod Blaster suffers from.

Hyperacusis is not a psychological intolerance of the sound of certain kinds of things. It is the literally painful perception of low volume sounds or certain frequencies of sounds. For example, when mine is bad, the "clacking" of some computer keyboards is painful even with quite normal typing. This does not make me want to cry and punch walls; it just makes we want the damn sound to stop because it hurts so much.

Furthermore, I have in the past had an intolerance of other people's eating/chewing noises, albeit much milder than iPod Blaster's. This is (was) a totally different thing. The progressive jaw clenching, agitation, and search for escape is a psychological response to the chewing, not a pain response to the sound waves the chewing causes.