"Misophonia: Oral Oddities & Other Annoyances" is a radio collage that tackles the recently discovered and little-understood chronic condition known as Misophonia. This disorder is characterized by highly negative emotional responses to auditory triggers such as chewing, breathing, sniffling, coughing, slurping, lip-smacking, tapping, etc.

Mixing a broad range of intrusive bodily sounds and discourses around it, this piece explores the spectrum between experiences of easy listening and extreme annoyance/sudden rage associated with Misophonia. Around 2011 and following an article published in the New York Times, Misophonia was the subject of many radio stories and tv reports that helped spread information and awareness about the condition. However, these reports were, in a way, a trojan horse concealing many misophonic trigger sounds in their sound design, providing a challenging listening experience to those who needed the information the most. In the mainstream media, Misophonia was approached as an overreaction of sensitive people.

As someone who suffers from Misophonia, my initial concern for this piece was if it was possible to reframe misophonic trigger sounds as misophonic music. And if a desensitized process could be set in motion by flooding the ears with trigger sounds? For me, the answer is no. After finishing this piece and listening to hours of trigger sounds, they are still tightly linked to heightened emotional responses. Humor, communication, and the appreciation of sound artists whose performances use mouth sounds, chewing, coughing, throat, and breathing sounds turned out to be better allies in living with Misophonia.

John Cage once said that his way of dealing with intrusive and annoying sounds was to include them in compositions and thus transform annoyance into music. Cage weakened the association between sound and intrusion by integrating the disruptive auditory experience in the personal sphere. This a seductive view of the aural experience; however, I came to understand this cavalier approach to sound as limited and not an option for people who suffer from Misophonia or other auditory conditions. Sound has a deeper connection to our human body and mind that goes beyond our wishes of control.

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"Misophonia: Oral Oddities & Other Annoyances" is part of Deep Wireless 13 RADIO ART online album (2018) produced by New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) naisa.ca

This radio work was also part of the Megapolis Audio Festival in Philadelphia, and it was broadcasted on the radio art festival Radiophrenia in Glasglow and Rádio Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal.

More info on Misophonia and music/art/performance:
soundstudiesblog.com/2015/07/13/misophonia-towards-a-taxonomy-of-annoyance/