incessantly, breathing really loudly, or clicking pens.

很大的呼吸聲或是按筆的聲音。

But for some people it's more than an annoyance, certain sounds cause serious distress.

但對某些人而言，這不只是討人厭的噪音而已，特定的聲音使人感到十分痛苦。

This was the case for three patients who were referred to the Academic Medical Center in

西元 2009 年有三位病人被轉診至阿姆斯特丹的學術醫學中心，

Amsterdam in 2009 for what their doctors thought could be obsessive compulsive disorder.

因為他們的醫生認為他們可能患有強迫症。

But after interviews and assessments, the specialists at the medical center realized

但在面談與評估之後，醫學中心的專家發現，

that the symptoms they were presenting like extreme anger at certain sounds and impulsively

他們表現出來的症狀，像是對特定聲音極度憤怒，

trying to stop them,were not diagnosable.

還有急著想讓這些聲音停下來，都沒辦法被診斷出來。

They did not fit any of the criteria in either the DSM or the International Statistical Classification of Diseases handbooks.

他們不符合精神疾病診斷與統計手冊 (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders，簡稱 DSM) 或是國際疾病分類手冊中的準則。

As you probably know, these are like bibles for the medical community - if something is

或許如你所知，這些書就像醫學界的聖經 —— 如果有疾病沒被列在上面，

not listed there, medically speaking, it's like it doesn't exist.

醫學上的說法是，這個疾病並不存在。

But clearly, based on these three patients, something was going on.

但是很明顯地，基於這三位患者的狀況，有些事正在發生。

So researchers at the Academic Medical Center (AMC) decided to take a deeper dive into what

所以學術醫學中心的研究人員決定深入研究

seemed to them, like a potentially new sound disorder.

這個他們看起來像是潛在新型聲音障礙的事物。

Now, back in 2001 two researchers at Emory coined the term misophonia, which means 'hatred of sound.”

現在，回到西元 2001 年，Emory 有兩位研究人員創造了「恐聲症」這個詞，意思是「對聲音的憎恨」。

They noted abnormally strong physical and psychological reactions to sound that were completely involuntary.

他們提到對聲音產生異常強烈的生理與心理反應完全是非自願的。

And theorized that these may be stemming from enhanced connections between the brain and auditory system.

理論上這可能是大腦與聽覺系統之間連結強化而造成的結果。

So, the idea was already out there, but more research was needed.

所以大致概念已經出來了，但還需要更多研究。

So the researchers at the AMC set out to determine if it could be classified as an actual disorder.

所以學術醫學中心的研究人員決定著手研究看能不能將其分類為實際的疾病。

For their study, the researchers recruited 42 Dutch participants who reported having sound aversions.

為了他們的研究，研究人員招募 42 位對聲音反感的荷蘭籍參與者。

They then conducted multiple interviews and assessments, including using a modified version

然後他們進行了許多面談與評估，包括使用修正後的耶魯 — 布朗強迫症量表

of the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, which they called the Amsterdam Misophonia Scale.

他們稱為阿姆斯特丹恐聲症量表。

This asked participants to rate things like how much time they spent thinking about or acting on their misophonia,

這個量表要求參與者對事物評分，像是他們花多少時間思考或處理他們的恐聲症、

how sound affected their social lives, how much anger they felt when they heard certain sounds,

聲音如何影響他們的社會生活、他們聽到特定聲音時感到多憤怒、

and how much they struggled with controlling impulses to stop sounds.

還有他們為了控制停止聲音的衝動有多掙扎。

In 2013 they published their results in the peer reviewed journal PLOS One.

西元 2013 年他們在同行評審的期刊《PLOS ONE》發表結果。

They found that all participants were bothered by sounds produced by humans, not animals, or cars or anything else.

他們發現所有的參與者都對人類製造的聲音感到困擾，而不是動物或是車輛之類的。

And for the vast majority of participants, 81%, sounds that had to do with eating were terrible.

而對絕大多數的參與者，81%，跟吃飯有關的聲音太可怕了。

About 60% mentioned being stressed out by clicking or typing.

大約 60% 提到對卡嗒聲或打字聲感到精神緊繃。

What's more, five patients were also triggered by repetitive movement - such as rocking feet back and forth.

還有甚麼呢，有五位病人也對重複行動的聲響感到困擾 —— 像是來回搖動腳。

Many of you, myself included, can probably relate and find some of these things super annoying.

你們許多人，包括我自己，可能也會感同身受並發現這些事物有些真的很惱人。

But unlike most of us, these patients weren't just annoyed.

但不像我們大部分人一樣，這些患者並不只是感覺惱人。

They were deeply upset - they immediately experienced a physical aversive reaction like

他們會感到非常不舒服 —— 馬上會感受到生理上的反感，

irritation and disgust that turned into anger.

像惱怒、噁心，然後轉變為憤怒。

In fact, more than a quarter of patients reported occasionally getting aggresive and more than

事實上，超過四分之一的患者表示偶爾會變得具攻擊性，

10% even admitted to hitting an ex partner once.

甚至超過 10% 的人承認曾打過前任伴侶。

For people with misophonia, certain sound cause so much daily suffering that they attempt to avoid them at all costs.

對患有恐聲症的人來說，特定聲音導致的日常生活的痛苦讓他們想不計一切代價避免。

The problem is that these sounds are everywhere, so they end up isolating themselves.

問題是這些聲音到處都是，所以他們最後只能孤立他們自己。

And, this negatively affects their work, school, and social activities - preventing them from leading normal lives.

而這樣的負面影響擴及工作、學校與社會生活 —— 讓他們無法過著正常生活。

This is why some medical professionals, like the researchers in this study, are advocating

這就是為什麼有些醫學專家，像本研究的研究人員，

to classify the most extreme cases of these annoyances as a discrete psychiatric condition.

提倡將這些惱人事物的極端案例分類為個別精神疾病。

Classifying it would facilitate treatment and research.

將其分類有助於治療及研究。

Which is important, because research is currently scarce.

這很重要，因為目前研究相當稀少。

Scientists think it is caused by something in the central nervous system - that it has

科學家認為這是由中樞神經系統引起的 ——

to do with perception in the brain and not actual problems with the ears.

與大腦的知覺有關而非實際上的聽覺問題。

But without additional funding and research it's tough to know for sure... and consequently,

但沒有額外資金與研究，就很難了解確切問題點 ...

tough to help those who may be suffering.

當然就很難幫助那些正在忍受痛苦的人。