Phonophobia, also called ligyrophobia or sonophobia, is a

fear Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion in response to perceiving or recognizing a danger or threat. Fear causes physiological changes that may produce behavioral reactions such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear ...

of or aversion to loud

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

s (for example fireworks)—a type of

specific phobia Specific phobia is an anxiety disorder, characterized by an extreme, unreasonable, and irrational fear associated with a specific object, situation, or concept which poses little or no actual danger. Specific phobia can lead to avoidance of the o ...

. It is a very rare phobia which is often the symptom of

hyperacusis Hyperacusis is the increased sensitivity to sound and a low tolerance for environmental noise. Definitions of hyperacusis can vary significantly; it can refer to normal noises being perceived as: loud, annoying, painful, fear-inducing, or a combina ...

. Sonophobia can refer to the hypersensitivity of a patient to sound and can be part of the diagnosis of a

migraine Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

. Occasionally it is called acousticophobia. The term ''phonophobia'' comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

φωνή - ''phōnē'', "voice" or "sound" and φόβος - ''phobos'', "fear". Ligyrophobics may be fearful of devices that can suddenly emit loud sounds, such as computer speakers or fire alarms. When operating a device such as a home theater system, computer, television, or CD player, they may wish to have the volume turned down all the way before doing anything that would cause the speakers to emit sound, so that once the command to produce sound is given, the user can raise the volume of the speakers to a comfortable listening level. They may avoid parades and carnivals due to the loud instruments such as drums. As festive occasions are accompanied by music of over 120 decibels, many phobics develop

agoraphobia Agoraphobia is a mental and behavioral disorder, specifically an anxiety disorder characterized by symptoms of anxiety in situations where the person perceives their environment to be unsafe with no easy way to escape. These situations can in ...

. Other ligyrophobics also steer clear of any events in which fireworks are to be let off. Another example is watching someone blow up a balloon beyond its normal capacity. This is often an unsettling, even disturbing thing for a person with ligyrophobia to observe, as they anticipate a loud sound when the balloon pops. When balloons pop, two types of reactions are heavy breathing and

panic attacks Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, sweating, chest pain or chest discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, numbness, confusion, or a feeling of impending doom or of losing ...

. The sufferer becomes anxious to get away from the source of the loud sound and may get headaches. It may also be related to, caused by, or confused with

, extreme sensitivity to loud sounds. Phonophobia also has been proposed to refer to an extreme form of

misophonia Misophonia is a disorder of decreased tolerance to specific sounds or their associated stimuli that has been characterized using different language and methodologies. Reactions to trigger sounds range from anger and annoyance to activating a fi ...

."Decreased sound tolerance: hypersensitivity of hearing (hyperacusis, misophonia, phonophobia)", Jonathan Hazell FRCS, Director, Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Centre, London U

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References

External links

{{Diseases of the ear and mastoid process Phobias Sound Noise Psychoacoustics

See also

References

External links