Today started off very rough for me. As mentioned in my 6/25/13 post, I like to turn on the TV to listen to the morning news (even if I haven't fully woken up yet) and more often than not, a commercial with whistling will snap me awake so that I scramble to mute or change the channel. The biggest culprit is a mattress company's commercial that whistles "Don't Worry, Be Happy" in the background. I swear... It only takes one millisecond of a note from that whistle to trigger my misophonia, and that commercial seems to come up EVERY single commercial break. (I'm not exaggerating! If not every break, then every other commercial break.) Today was even worse! There are only two prime-time stations where I watch the morning news and when that commercial hit me this morning, I immediatly flipped to the other station and within five seconds... That commercial played on the other channel as well. I couldn't believe it... There was no escaping it!  So, as you can probably guess, my Friday did not start off well... That was, until I checked my email...

I'm always excited, and touched, when I get follow ups to blog posts and other comments about the SenseHaven.com website. It feels good to know that so many people find what I wrote helpful. For me, that's the whole point of this site and your feedback reinforces that these efforts are worthwhile. I'd like take a moment to thank all you readers who visit (and especially those who come back too!)

Anyway... This morning, I was surprised to receive an email from Cambridge Sound Management (CSM), the company who manufactures the Sonnet personal sound masking system that I tested out a couple of weeks ago (and had lamented how much I missed the devices in my previous post because over the past couple of days I've REALLY realized how much they helped me, now that I don't have them anymore.) The representative asked me to give him a call to find out more about this blog and my work.

When I called him, he mentioned they noticed their website had been getting a lot of traffic from this website and we had a very interesting discussion about sound masking, especially with relation to open office workplaces. He mentioned how they've noticed many companies are moving more towards open-office layouts to facilitate communications. As an architectural designer, I've not only experienced it first-hand, I've been involved on design teams at previous firms that designed those types of layouts/workstation systems. The CSM representative knew I had mentioned their products and had suggested to people who want more information go to the "Find a Rep" portion of their website. He offered to send me a link where people who want to actually go ahead and buy one of their sound masking systems can buy it directly. If you are interested in buying one, you can get them on the Speech Privacy Systems website.

The CSM representative also sent me links to more information such as:

• "What Makes a Sound Masking System Sound Good?"
• Sound masking system Case Studies
• Sound masking systems for large-scale installations
• "Optimum Masking Sound: White or Pink" (Yes, I know that many people with misophonia prefer brown sound, but it is an interesting article to read as it relates to speech privacy)
• "Eight Simple Recommendations for Good Acoustical Etiquette in an Open Plan Office" - Even though this wasn't one of the links he emailed me, I found this white paper on their website and the last point fits great with what so many of us suffer at the workplace. It might be an interesting, and non-confrontational, document to share with employers as a means to indirectly help misophonia sufferers get triggerers to be more mindful of their cubicle habits. It's information that I think would be accepted as a general workplace courtesy rule of thumb, instead of coworkers thinking we're attacking their actions solely because of our misophonia.

I don't want to write another tome of a blog post, but I would like to add that after speaking with the CSM representative, one of their technical engineers called me as a follow-up. We had a wonderful discussion, and when I asked him what makes their sound-masking devices different than any of us playing a brown noise app through our speakers/headphones, he said they've really worked on adjusting the spectrum of sound to make it as unobtrusive as possible while maximizing the effectiveness - particularly within the speech range frequency of sound. So, their sound masking sound has been tailored to most effectively cover voices (among other sounds) and without irritating people nearby. 

At one point, I explained how even though I know their company has a lot more variety of office-wide products, I suggested that they really consider expanding their individual/personal sound masking devices - especially if they could design devices that could be integrated well into the workstation area (like the types of speaker modules that could attach to one's monitor or even create a faux canopy like some lighting fixtures that I see being added to workstations).  

I'm sure we'll speak again at some point, but right now I've got to cut this post "short" to head out to my kickboxing class. (I still have to change, and at this rate... I'm sure I'll be late. I wanted to make sure I shared today's events before I left.)

This afternoon, it really hit me how effective those Sonnet sound-masking devices were in helping me overcome triggers at the office. Since the Sonnet devices were just loaners, I wound up returning them to the rep before my trip out east last week. Boy do I miss those wonderful noise generators! I put in a request for my company to order the Sonnet devices. I've got my fingers crossed that they'll approve it and if they do... I'll get the approval soon!

Today was another busy day (as usual) with me "chained" to my desk, when I started to hear the "s" sounds coming from one of my coworkers in a cubicle area just below mine. I used to sit in that area, and I really had a hard time with my coworkers frequent "s" sounds when she'd read out loud to herself, or hiss through her teeth while she was thinking. Without those sound masking speakers, I could hear her "s" sounds as clearly as when we were in the same cubicle pod. The only way I could cope now was to wear my favorite earbuds instead, but it was a pain in the neck to constantly be putting them in and taking them out every few minutes to deal with phone calls, visiting teammates, or just getting up to walk to another part of the office.

We also had our monthly staff meeting at lunch. I've already gotten into the habit of sitting at the front corner of the cafe where the meetings are held, so close to the screen that I could practically touch it. Being in the front allows me to avoid any visual triggers by people eating or fidgiting in adjacent tables/chairs. I'm also lucky that the presenters use a microphone so that the meetings can be recorded as well as for the sound to be clearly heard by the other two offices that attend via web conference technology. With all the presentations being amplified, I'm able to wear earplugs to block out softer eating and fidgiting sounds. At times, I feel like I'm back in middle school sitting at the front of the classroom, but if being proactive in where I sit in meetings helps lessen trigger exposure, I don't care. It's just a shame that the earplugs weren't good enough to block out all the whistling that happens when the meeting was adjourned. Oh well.

On another note... I decided it was time to change out the poll question on the front page of this website. This new question does allow people to share where their ideal haven from triggers would be. (I moved the old question to the "Past Polls" page.) If anyone has suggestions for poll topics, please let me know via the "Contact Us" page. I'm always open to hear other people's ideas and I'd like these polls to be a fun interactive portion of this website that everyone can enjoy.

One last thing... I've officially started tweeting! The twitter feed will be @SenseHaven and I will not only connect this blog with the twitter account, I'll also try to tweet things live, instead of waiting to relay thoughts and experiences later in a LONG blog entry. Hopefully, this will allow future blog entries to be more concise.

As if getting up at 3 a.m. for a 6 a.m. flight back to the Midwest wasn't torturous enough (I am not a morning person), I woke up with a backache - which I'm sure was due to a combination of six days of schlepping my laptop and light samples around DC and North Carolina followed by "sleeping" in a rock-hard hotel bed. Right after I went through the TSA checkpoint, I twisted or did something else to aggrevate it even further (I swear it was like someone stuck an ice-pick in my right kidney area) and must've yelped or did something else that brought attention to my pain because the security guard posted by the exit (to prevent people from going back to the gates after leaving the concourse) asked if I needed a wheelchair. I was too embarrassed to take him up on it though.

I just couldn't wait to get home so I could take some of the leftover Tramadol my doctor gave me for my shoulder pain after the car accident. Funny... It knocked me out like it did a couple of weeks ago (I went to bed at around 4 p.m. and didn't wake up until close to 7 a.m. this morning) but I didn't get the same lessening of misophonia triggers that I did the last time. Perhaps the reason why it helped desensitize me to triggers last time was because I had been taking it for over a week an a half but when I took it yesterday, I had been off of it for over two weeks. At least my back is feeling somewhat better...

On top of the backache yesterday, I discovered as soon as I got to the airport that I lost my earbuds (again). This time I really lost them and was afraid that I might've left them on the hotel night stand. Luckily, my coworkers still had one day of presentations where we held our workshop so I texted one of my teammates to see if I accidently left them in the conference room. Sure enough, I did. (He found it laying on the floor.) I thought maybe traveling wouldn't be too terrible, because the first leg was 6 a.m. and I had multiple pairs of earplugs with me. Boy was I wrong. I sat behind a couple with a young kid (must've been only a year or two old) who not only wouldn't sit still, as soon as we got up to cruising altitude, the kid started wailing away. Even wearing my good earplugs, the crying was very loud. (I can only imagine what it was like for the other passengers who didn't have any kind of earplugs/earphones.) So, as soon as I landed in Atlanta, I looked for someplace where I could find a replacement for my earbuds. (I figure, it's always good to have a backup pair...)

I should preface what I'm about to write with a correction to one of my previous blog entries. Many times I've referred to my favorite coping device as the Jabra Rhythm noise "cancelling" earbuds. A reader recently corrected me with a comment stating that what I have is actually "sound-isolating" earbuds, not noise "cancelling." I appreciate the feedback and want to set the record straight especially since this incident yesterday gave me a perfect opportunity to  obtain a pair of true noise cancelling earphones. The store at the airport had several options from which to choose and I was surprised when the salesperson let me try a few of them out. (She had a whole drawer full of earbud covers of all sizes and several demo devices too, so it's not like my ear cooties would've contaminated anything for the next person. I tested one of the more expensive pairs (thinking, "You get what you pay for," but found that the back of the earbuds had a very heavy/bulky piece on the back that made it very awkward to wear. I tested a couple of others but wasn't too thrilled with them, either for the same reason or because I could still hear a lot of surrounding sounds in the store, even with my music being played very loudly.

I wound up settling on a pair of Phiaton PS 20 NC "Noise Cancelling Earphones" that, according to the packaging, said had 95% noise reduction. (See inset photo.) Actually, according to their website, these "Luxury Noise Cancellation Earphones" (yes, they do say "Luxury") were named PC Magazine's Best Noise Cancelling Headphones in 2013. I'll admit that they were still a little bulky in the back but compared to the other devices I tested, the sound quality was awesome and I could play the music much louder than any of the other devices. They wound up costing me about $106 (after tax) and I had very high hopes for them.

Unfortunately, the second leg of my flight proved to me that my $35.00 sound-isolating earbuds are a heck of a lot better than these "Noise cancelling" earphones that cost nearly three times more. As soon as I got on the plane, I immediately put on my new Phiaton devices. Just turning on the earphones (they have a little battery compartment on the cord), I could hear my surroundings get a little muffled.  The sound quality of my music was wonderful and just as I started immersing myself in Lita Ford, one of the flight attendants gave an announcement over the loudspeaker... And I heard everything she was saying! I was so disappointed. I've never heard airplane announcements when I wore my Jabra Rhythm earbuds. (I've mentioned in past posts that I don't even hear coworkers standing right next to me when I'm wearing them.) I couldn't believe it.

All I can say is thank goodness my coworker brought my Jabra Rhythm earbuds back with him. Not sure what I'm going to do with the Phiaton earphones, since they don't seem to be good enough to block out sounds (let alone triggers - which I haven't tested yet). If I can return them somewhere, I might try to get a couple more pairs of my Jabra earbuds as backups instead.

I would like to end this post by saying that although I swear by my Jabra earbuds left and right, what works for me might not be the optimum solution for someone else. Everyone has different needs and comfort levels. Perhaps other people would find the Phiaton earphones work great for their needs or maybe the weighty back piece wouldn't bother them as much as it did me. Definitely try to take any new devices for a test drive - and find out the store's return policy - before spending a lot of money on any new technology.

I've written many a post about frustrations with misophonia triggers at the office and during business trips to conferences, this post is about one of the most difficult work related experience I've had yet... Being surrounded by misophonia triggers during a full-day client/consultant workshop - and many of the clients were the ones creating the triggers!!! At least when I'm bombarded by triggers at the office I can plug myself into my earbud music or if the triggers are at a conference, I can either switch seats or leave the room entirely, picture having to spend an entire day being bombarded by triggers in a room with two dozen people and you can't ask the triggerer to stop because he's a client, you can't switch seats because there are none available, and you can't leave the room because you have to be involved in the discussion... Well, that's what happened to me yesterday - and even after the meeting adjourned for the day, the torture didn't end there...

It started when my teammates (including a principal from my firm) and I arrived in our meeting room around 8 a.m. yesterday to set up our presentation materials. One of the clients arrived early and started whistling (my worst trigger) right behind me as he walked around the room to look at all of our designs. As more and more clients arrived and we began our meeting,  my teammate sitting to my left started bouncing his leg really fast and my coworker to my right started drumming his fingers on the table. The tables were set up in a "U" formation, so I could see legs bouncing and feet tapping/rotating under the table by the clients across from me. (I thought to myself, "Arrrgh! I'm surrounded!") Then, about an hour into the meeting, one of the clients stood up to look more closely at the projection on the screen and was cracking his gum as he stood behind me. (At that point I thought, "This is like a cat being drawn to someone with cat allergies, like myself. I'm a magnet for triggerers!") If I thought I could discretely get up and walk out, I would have done so, but unfortunately, I was sitting at the end of the "U" - to minimize my exposure to triggers by sitting as close to the presentation screen as possible - that was the farthest point away from the door. I would've had to walk between the clients sitting in a row at the back wall and the ones sitting in the middle leg of the "U." I tried scrunching down to block the view of the feet/leg fidgiters under the table with my laptop screen but it just wasn't enough, especially with the gum cracking behind me. I wound up putting in my earplugs to block the cracking sound, after which the client went back to his chair at the back of the conference room. (Coincidence???)

For hours and hours I had to sit through triggers and it felt like torture. Although my coworkers knew of my misophonia, there was no way I was going to ask a client to please stop what (s)he was doing. Last thing I wanted to do was to have a client think I was crazy... I couldn't wait for the meeting to end. I thought I'd finally get some relief... Boy was I wrong!

After the meeting adjourned and the clients left, my coworkers decided to stay and work on updating their designs based on the day's comments so that the revised drawings could be used during today's worksession discussions. It wouldn't have been so bad, but my principal started whistling as he was sketching up some new designs. I had already shut my laptop down, so I couldn't listen to music files from my computer. (The last time we had this type of workshop session, the team left within a half hour after the meeting ended. This time we stayed over two hours longer!) I tried putting in my earplugs but the room we were in wasn't that large and he was whistling very loudly. I could hear the piercing sound through the foam earplugs and I knew there was no way I was going to stay in the same room while he did that. So, I got up and went to one of the smaller conference rooms down the hall to work on my iPad tablet.

After a while, I felt a little awkward being away from the team, so I went back to join them. I wasn't back in the room ten minutes before the principal started whistling again. (Double-argh!) It was very frustrating because only a couple of days prior, I had told him about my condition. I'd like to think he wasn't doing it intentionally but a small part of me wondered if he was deliberately doing it, considering how soon after I rejoined them that he started whistling again. So, I gathered up my stuff again and went back into the other conference room. Even though I was alone in the room, I left in my earplugs and just stared out the window watching a big mosquito keep banging against the window, like he was trying to get into the room. I was trying very hard to decompress after hours and hours of trigger bombardment and was relieved when one of my coworkers said we were finally heading out to get some dinner. I left in my earplugs throughout the car drive to the restaurant, knowing my brief break from triggers wasn't going to last long. I wasn't wrong...

From the moment the five of us sat in a booth at the restaurant, I knew I was in trouble. Although I sat at the end of the booth, in case I needed to make a quick escape, I was sitting next to the coworker who sat to my left during the meeting. He started bouncing his leg again, just like during the meeting - only this time, since I was now sitting next to him on the booth seat, I was feeling his bounces instead of just being bothered by the visual motion. Also, the principal from my office was now sitting directly in front of me on the other side of the booth and he went from whistling loudly while reading the menu, to banging his cell phone on the table every few seconds as he talked to the team. (I'm used to people doing that with a pen, but not with a cellphone.) Although I held up my menu to visually block the motion of him banging the cellphone on the table, sliding his fingers to the other end of the phone while rotating it, then banging it again... The sound permeated through my earplugs like a hammer hitting my brain. Part of me wanted to run away from the triggers, but we hadn't ordered yet so I felt I had to stay. I was so grateful when our orders finally came. The earplugs were at least good enough to block any sounds from my teammates eating their pizza. By the time we got back to the hotel, I was mentally and physically exhausted. Given that we were going to have another full day of client/consultant coordination meetings, I couldn't wait to go to sleep and rest up for another torturous day.

All I can say is that I'm lucky my flight back to the Midwest leaves at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning. It gives me an excuse to bag out of dinner and try to decompress in the solitude of my room before getting a good - even if short - night's sleep.

So, here I am traveling on the east coast again. I started out visiting a friend this weekend and am now in North Carolina at another client presentation / design workshop. Right now, we're taking a lunch break, so I wanted to take a minute to share with you all a very exciting, last minute, get together I had with Judith Krauthamer,  the author of the book, "Sound-Rage" and a friend of mine. What an enjoyable meeting! It was the first time I've ever met someone else with misophonia face-to-face and I couldn't believe how much we have in common (not just with our shared misophonia experiences but with other general similarities too.) Unfortunately, I had to cut our conversation short. I really would've loved to have continued our converation longer. Judith is so a nice and I think we both enjoyed our time together.

We talked a lot about her "Sound-Rage" book, which was just released last month, as well as my memoir writing efforts too. We shared personal experiences about our misophonia and it was amazing the similarities. Throughout our conversation, she explained some of the science behind misophonia experiences by using analogies that were very easy to understand. Even my friend, was intrigued, and he only knows about misophonia from the few discussions he and I've had. (When we still worked together, I often asked him to stop drumming his fingers when we met for coffee on the way to a job site, so he is somewhat aware of my hyper-sensitivities to certain sensory triggers.)

Before we went our separate ways, I asked Judith to sign my copy of the "Sound-Rage" book, which I started to read on the flight to where I'm at right now. It's fascinating how much her writing reads just like my own thoughts. I could especially relate to the stories that were shared by other sufferers as well. I haven't quite gotten to the more scientific portion of the book, but I'm really looking forward to reading more, and even bought another copy to share with my family! I figure it might help them to better understand my misophonia if they can read about it through someone else's voice.

... Or should I say, "...before hitting the wild blue yonder again" since tomorrow I take off again for the east coast. I really thought I was going to be able to stay put for a little while this summer after being away four out of seven weeks this spring. Oh well.

Been very busy here at work getting ready for my next trips to the east coast for work. I'm actually looking forward to the trips because in addition to meeting up with friends along the way, I found out that I'm not going to be far from the author of "Sound-rage." So, she and I are going to meet up while I'm in town. I'm really looking forward to it! I'll actually have one of my former colleagues with me when I meet with the auther (my friend offered to give me a ride while I was in town) and what's funny is that before I even knew the term misophonia, he was someone who triggered my misophonia every time we'd go to a coffee shop on the way to a job site. He'd constantly be fidgiting, like drumming his fingers on the table, and annoy the heck out of me. Many a time I'd gently smush his hand down when he did that. At least he had a good sense of humor when I did. Now that we know why I was bothered by it so much, I think he wanted to join us because he's intrigued to learn more about misophonia too.

So, going back to some previous post topics... Last night I received an email update from the rep who lent me his sound masking devices. It was a forwarded message from one of the Field Sales Engineers for the company who makes the devices (Cambridge Sound Management) and there's so much information in his email, I'm contemplating creating another area on this website dedicated to information about coping methods and treatment options. I'll have to think about how to format something like that because I'd just want it to be a general resource of information to make their own decisions about what works or won't for them. I don't want it to come across as "This is the way to go..." since there really isn't any general concensus yet. I guess this will be something to think about on the plane (although I do hope to make a big dent in my memoir writing too.)

The sound masking devices have been pretty helpful in that when they're operating, I haven't felt the need to wear my earbuds. Usually I kept the volume at it's maximum level to really block out sounds but wound up turning the volume down whenever someone came to speak with me at my desk or if I had to go on the phone. (I was concerned it would be too loud for the other person.) It will be interesting to see if my firm would be willing to purchase the devices to help my work environment or if they'd have to come out of my own pocket. If it's the latter, I wonder if I'd be able to use my health savings account to pay for them or would they not count as "medical devices." I may have to look into all that after my upcoming business trip.

Anyway, I've been on the Pristiq medication now for nearly two months now and to be honest, I'm not really sensing any relief from my misophonia triggers. I noticed significantly more relief while on my half doze of Tramadol pain meds, after the car accident, than any change from the Pristiq. Unfortunately, there'd be no way I could mentally function if I were on a medication like Tramadol - even if it did mean that I wouldn't be bothered by triggers. Anyway, given that a 30-day bottle of Pristiq was nearly $200 for me out of my own pocket, I'm probably not going to renew the prescription. Oh well... On to the next possible solution...

The only other update I'll add here is that a couple of days ago, I was participating in a webinar team meeting with one of our Clients and although I sat at the end of the table right next to the screen (to avoid any visual triggers in my sightline), I wasn't so lucky with my sound triggers. A coworker sitting next to me started picking his nails and making some of my other sound triggers. I really started getting antsy when I realized I didn't have my earplugs that I usually keep in my pocket for such situations. There was even one moment where I saw a box of tissues on a table and a part of me actually considered ripping off a small piece of tissue to wad up and stick in my ears. By the time I came close to actually doing it, my colleague stopped  making the trigger sounds. It's lousy to feel that desperate. I couldn't wait for the meeting to end.

I really must've piqued my sales rep's interest about misophonia and sound masking systems because yesterday evening (yes, the evening of the July 4th holiday), the rep emailed me some information about a T-coil hearing loop system that specifically targets sound (like a teacher's presentation in a classroom) directly to a person's hearing aid frequency.

Just a little background... When the rep originally visited me at the office this past Monday, he made a comment about how the noise masking system is good to focus masking noise at me while I'm sitting at my desk, but it seemed like people with misophonia would need a noise masking device that would go wherever the person went. I mentioned to him my having been introduced to a brown-noise, in ear "hearing aid" devices when I was first diagnosed, to which the rep commented that he thought he remembered seeing something about a system used by some schools and theaters that integrates copper coils within a room's architecture to enable the audio from a teacher's microphoned presentation to target a student's hearing aid frequency directly. Doing this, would allow the student to hear the presentation without all the distracting surrounding noise in the background. It sounded just like what we misophonia sufferers need! The rep didn't remember the name of the system at the time, but he promised me that he'd forward the information once he found it. Sure enough, that's what he did last night!

The website he forwarded to me was HearingLoop.org. It looks like a really interesting system and they even listed locations where the system has been installed all around the country. I know I've read posts on other websites by many parents whose children struggle with their misophonia at school. It seems like these systems could really help school-aged misophonia sufferers.

The rep also wrote in his email that he had spoken with a speech therapist who works with traumatic brain injury victims. The therapist commented that misophonia sounded like "Central Auditory Processing Disorder" (sometimes referred to as "dyslexia for the ears" and added that her clients with that disorder has similar frustration with background noises. The rep added though that when he researched the disorder online, he felt that it's very different from misophonia. I haven't had a chance to look it up myself but when he wrote that, I remembered someone once telling me that misophonia sounds like something his friend's child has called "Sensory Integration Syndrome." I hope to have a bit of breathing room to look into both of those conditions for comparison. (I still think every bit of information helps, whether to find similarities or differences between misophonia and other conditions.)

As far as my testing of the Sonet sound masking devices that the rep loaned me... So far, it's been quite an interesting experience. I honestly was a bit pessimistic that they'd help my overly acute hearing but I was quite impressed by how effective they are. For the most part, I’ve been playing them pretty loudly, which blocks most of the  sounds around me, but was very surprised to find that I could walk on the other side of the cubicle wall and not hear them at all. I usually felt like I have to turn the volume down when someone comes to talk to me at my desk or if I’m on a conference call, which was the one time I heard a soda can opening, but for the most part… I haven’t felt a need to wear my earbuds or earplugs while at my desk. The rep is allowing me to hold onto the system a little bit longer though. I made a comment to him that this week may not have been a good week to test the system since so many people have been out of the office for an extended holiday. We'll see what happens when the office is more populated (which means I'd be exposed to more triggers.)

Today has been a very interesting day of validations and revelations with regard to my misophonia. Firstly, as I mentioned in my previous post, I had a theory that the pain killer I had been taking after my car accident (Tramadol) - even at a half dose - somehow lessened my sensitivities to triggers. This morning I received an email from one of the doctors with whom I've been communicating - who is knowledgeable about misophonia and neurology. He confirmed that my assumptions were correct. That, "There is definitely a correlation between [a] brain's conscious state and the intensity of [the] 'experienced' trigger." Unfortunately, I decided on Friday that I no longer wanted to take the Tramadol at all because it was becoming too difficult to wake up in the morning. So, after three days of not being on the medication, this morning I found my sensitivity back to "normal" when a whistling commercial came up during the morning news. Even in my bleary-eyed state, I scrambled to mute or change the channel again - whereas last Wednesday and Thursday I was able to listen to to the entire commercial. (The sound still bothered me then but not enough to make me mute or change the channel.)

The second momentous occasion this morning occurred when a sales rep came in to demonstrate a set of noise masking speakers. My assistant has long known about how I suffer with misophonia and she had learned of these devices while working with this rep on another project - where the dividing wall between offices in this one company's facilities was not sound-proof enough to mask conversations. (The company works with very sensitive information so having good sound proofing between the offices was very important.

The rep was not familiar with what misophonia is, so I played him the 20/20 video report to help him understand what it's like to have these sensitivities. He seemed fascinated by the condition and was able to set up a small speaker system around my desk to create my own little sound masking "bubble." He went on to say that his office has these devices, because it allows for people to individually control their

environment, but there are other systems that work on a larger scale - where the noise masking sound is more office-wide. This particular system is the Cambridge Sound Management Sonet QT system and the rep is letting me borrow it this week to see how it helps me. So far, so good. I didn't wear my earbuds at all today and I didn't seemed to be bothered by triggers. Granted, I hadn't heard any soda cans opening, but I don't know if it's because of the Sonet devices or that maybe people weren't drinking soda today. The Cambridge Sound Management site also  has some other, larger systems but for this blog post, I wanted to focus on what the rep loaned me to test out.

The speakers played a brown noise (I think that was the color) and I could adjust the volume to my own level of comfort. The devices are meant to be portable, which would be very good for people who travel. What's interesting is that when I walked away from my desk, I really didn't hear the masking sound, and no one complained about it either. It actually sounded like the air ducts I'm used to hearing in the office, only louder.

The rep also mentioned another company called Lencore, who also offers sound masking devices. I haven't had a chance to look into their website in great depth but between the case studies on the Cambridge Sound Management's "LEARN" webpage and the information on Lencore's website, I'm going to have a lot of reading to do and asking the rep questions before reporting my findings on this blog. I will provide updates as I discover them. (If anyone has experience with these devices, feel free to send comments too.)