Why does a stranger's phone noise annoy me?

We've all been there...you're on the train, maybe tired after a long day, and all you can hear is one side of a fellow passenger's not-too-interesting phone conversation. Or worse, their choice of music, made tinny and monotonous by the awkward angle of their phone speaker. It's irritating, sure, but for some people it goes beyond mild annoyance, into the realms of anger and panic. For these people - who suffer from a condition called 'misophonia' - phone noise, or sounds such as chewing or breathing, are a real problem. We chat to Dr Jane Gregory, a researcher at Oxford's Department of Experimental Psychology who has misophonia, to find out more about this little-known condition.

You can listen to Why does a stranger's phone noise annoy me? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Why does a stranger's phone noise annoy me? is an episode from Oxford Sparks Big Questions by Fiona Jones.

This episode is 16:39 long.

This episode was published on May 28, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Oxford Sparks Big Questions when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.