Everyday Sounds Feel Overwhelming
Imagine walking into a quiet café only to feel your heart race the moment someone slurps their coffee. Or trying to concentrate at work while the hum of a fluorescent light makes your skin crawl. For people with sound sensitivity or misophonia, these are not minor annoyances—they are neurological landmines.
What seems like “just a sound” to others can trigger a cascade of emotional, physical, and autonomic reactions. It is not overreacting. It is not being too sensitive. It is a sign that the brain’s auditory gating and emotional regulation systems are struggling—often due to dysfunction in the midbrain and limbic system.
You Are Not Broken. Your Brain Is Overprotective.
From a chiropractic neurology standpoint, we do not see these symptoms as something “wrong” with you. We see them as signs that your brain has become hypervigilant, likely after injury, inflammation, trauma, or chronic stress.
Your brain is not malfunctioning. It is trying to protect you—but it is doing it too loudly, too often, and without your permission.
What Are Sound Sensitivity and Misophonia?
Let’s define these terms clearly:
- Sound sensitivity (hyperacusis): A lowered tolerance for everyday sounds. Noises that are normal to others (e.g., clinking dishes, rustling paper, sudden laughter) can feel piercing, irritating, or even painful.
- Misophonia: A more specific and emotionally intense condition, where certain “trigger sounds” provoke strong emotional reactions—often anger, disgust, panic, or rage. Common triggers include chewing, sniffing, breathing, tapping, or repetitive sounds.
Both conditions lie on a spectrum, and both are tied to dysfunction in how the brain processes auditory input and emotional salience.
The Brain Pathways Involved: Midbrain and Limbic System
The Midbrain: Your Brain’s Sensory Traffic Cop
The midbrain, particularly the inferior colliculus, plays a major role in processing sound. It helps filter what is relevant and what is not, adjusting gain like the volume knob on a stereo system.
In a healthy brain, the midbrain inhibits irrelevant or repetitive sounds so they fade into the background. But in a dysregulated brain—often after a concussion, chronic stress, or neuroinflammation—this inhibitory function weakens.
The result? Sounds that should be filtered out now feel invasive, alarming, or unbearable.M
The Limbic System: Where Emotion Meets Sensory Input
The amygdala and hippocampus, key structures of the limbic system, assign meaning to sensory input—especially when it is emotionally charged.
In misophonia, the connection between auditory processing and the limbic system is overactive. Studies show that trigger sounds activate the anterior insular cortex, part of the brain that integrates sensory and emotional experiences (Kumar et al., 2017). This hyperactivation leads to intense negative feelings, sometimes before the conscious brain can even register the sound.
It is not just that the sound is annoying. The brain has paired it with a threat response—often based on past experiences or unresolved stressors.
Why This Happens: Root Causes of Dysregulated Sound Processing
Several common patterns lead to this type of dysregulation, here are some examples:
1. Concussion or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Injury to the brainstem or midbrain can disrupt auditory gating. Many people report increased sound sensitivity after even mild head trauma, especially when vestibular or visual symptoms are also present.
2. Chronic Stress and Dysautonomia
Ongoing stress raises cortisol and sympathetic tone, keeping the nervous system in a “watchful” state. In this mode, even benign stimuli can be flagged as dangerous. The more the limbic system is activated, the stronger the emotional response to sounds becomes.
3. Neurodevelopmental Conditions
Children and adults with ADHD, autism, or sensory processing disorders often experience increased sensitivity to sound. Their brains are wired for higher sensory input but may lack the inhibitory networks needed to modulate it.
4. Neuroinflammation or Hormonal Imbalances
Inflammation in the central nervous system—often due to infection, autoimmune issues, or gut dysfunction—can affect midbrain function and worsen sensory gating. Similarly, estrogen fluctuations (e.g., during the menstrual cycle or postpartum) can make some women more sensitive to sound due to changes in limbic activity.
How It Affects Daily Life
This is more than a nuisance. Sound sensitivity and misophonia can make everyday tasks feel unbearable:
- Struggling in classrooms or open offices due to noise
- Avoiding restaurants or family gatherings
- Reacting emotionally to others’ chewing or breathing
- Constantly feeling “on edge” in noisy environments
- Difficulty concentrating due to auditory distractions
Left unaddressed, these conditions can lead to social withdrawal, anxiety, and burnout.
A Chiropractic Neurology Approach: Rewiring the Brain’s Response to Sound
While medications or noise-canceling headphones may offer temporary relief, they do not retrain the brain. Chiropractic neurology offers a different path: one that uses the brain’s own neuroplasticity to rebuild resilience, inhibition, and sensory balance.
1. Brain-Based Sensory Integration Therapy
Through a combination of visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive inputs, we help reset the midbrain’s filter. Gentle, targeted exercises improve multisensory integration, which strengthens the brain’s ability to modulate auditory input.
These are non-invasive, customized based on neurological exam findings, and designed to promote brainstem-calming and cortical activation.
2. Frontal Lobe Activation for Emotional Regulation
The frontal lobe helps inhibit the limbic system. In misophonia, emotional overreactions happen in part because the frontal lobe is underactive or fatigued.
Using neurocognitive therapy, we stimulate frontal circuits that improve attention, emotional control, and stress resilience. This gives patients better tools to override automatic emotional responses to sound.
3. Vagal Nerve Stimulation and Autonomic Support
The vagus nerve plays a key role in calming the nervous system. We use breathwork, rhythm-based therapies, and gentle vestibular stimulation to enhance parasympathetic tone—reducing fight-or-flight reactions to environmental triggers.
4. Nutritional and Lifestyle Foundations
Inflammation and stress load matter. Many patients benefit from supporting:
- Omega-3 intake to reduce neuroinflammation
- Magnesium and B vitamins for nervous system health
- Sleep hygiene and circadian alignment to restore frontal lobe function
We also consider gut-brain axis health, as microbiome imbalances can contribute to neuroinflammation and sound sensitivity.
Hope for Healing: You Can Get Your Life Back
Sound sensitivity and misophonia can feel isolating. But with the right support, your brain can heal. By addressing the neurological root causes—not just the symptoms—we help patients retrain how their brain processes the world.
You deserve a life where you can:
- Enjoy meals without anxiety
- Sit in a classroom or office without distraction
- Walk into a noisy environment without feeling attacked
- Reclaim peace, focus, and emotional freedom
If you or someone you love is suffering from sound sensitivity or misophonia and you would like to learn how chiropractic neurology can help, contact the team at Georgia Chiropractic Neurology Center today. We look forward to hearing from you.
Written by Sophie Hose, DC, MS, DACNB, CCSP
Peer-Reviewed Sources:
- Kumar, S., Tansley-Hancock, O., Sedley, W., Winston, J. S., Callaghan, M. F., Allen, M., … & Griffiths, T. D. (2017). The Brain Basis for Misophonia. Current Biology, 27(4), 527-533.e2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.048
- Jastreboff, P. J., & Jastreboff, M. M. (2002). Decreased sound tolerance and tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT). Australian and New Zealand Journal of Audiology, 24(2), 74–84. https://doi.org/10.1375/audi.24.2.74.31105
- Brout, J. J., Edelstein, M., Erfanian, M., Mannino, M., Miller, L. J., Rouw, R., … & Kumar, S. (2018). Investigating misophonia: A review of the empirical literature, clinical implications, and a research agenda. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 12, 36. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2018.00036
- Schröder, A., Vulink, N., & Denys, D. (2013). Misophonia: Diagnostic Criteria for a New PsychiatricDisorder.PLOSONE,8(1),e54706. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0054706