6 Minute English / Sounds that make you want to scream

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Neil Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I m Neil.

And I m Phil.

Ugh! What s that awful noise, Phil?!

Oh sorry, Neil, I was, er biting my nails. I know, it s a bad habit.

Yuk! It sounds terrible!

Sorry, Neil. Actually, it s not only you who finds certain sounds irritating, unpleasant, or even unbearable. Whether it s someone biting their nails, rustling a crisp bag, or scraping a knife on a dinner plate, some everyday sounds have the power to make us angry or upset.

There's even a name for it: misophonia, also known as sound rage , and it s more common than you might think. According to some estimates, one person in five is affected emotionally by the coughing, slurping, sneezing and snorting sounds made by the people around them.

In this programme, we ll be finding out more about the medical condition misophonia, and, as usual, we ll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But first I have a question for you, Phil. According to a recent survey by the American journal Medical News which of the following did their readers find the most unpleasant sound?: