SEATTLE — For as long as Julie Anderson can remember, she’s told people she had a “hearing problem.”

The truth is, she doesn’t actually know what the problem is, it’s just that when she hears certain noises, she can’t stand to be around them.

Always some “normal” sound, like someone tapping a pen or eating something. When she hears these sounds, she has to get away quickly or risk severe pain.

Anderson, 52, from Hull in north-east England, now believes she is one of millions of people in the UK and around the world who suffer from ‘misophonia’, a yet-to-be-understood sensory disorder that causes ordinary people to The sound became unbearable.

An investigation found Nearly 20 Britons may suffer from misophonia To some extent, but still not much help or support or even public awareness. Doubt and disbelief are often encountered, even from doctors. And since avoiding triggering noise always means avoiding other people, this situation can wreak havoc on relationships and work life.

Now, US researchers are hoping for a breakthrough that could actually help beyond trying to block out noise with earplugs.

Scientists at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle have developed artificial intelligence-assisted headphones that allow users to filter the sounds they hear in real time.

In an observed example I, users set their headphones to block vacuum cleaner noise, but they could still hear knocks on their doors. In another example, traffic sounds are blocked, but users can still choose to hear birdsong.

Misophonia support groups in the United States believe the headphones could be a breakthrough in solving the problem. They gave the example of a person going to the movies and a person behind him started eating snacks. Using an app on their phone, users can block out the eating noise through headphones or earbuds, allowing them to stay and enjoy the movie.

Chris Edwards, Group Founder so quiet” said of the technology: “If it works as well as they say it does, this could be an amazing assistive technology for people with misophonia. “

The University of Washington research team admits they didn’t consider these issues when developing the system, which they call “semantic hearing.” In their work, they used recordings of dogs barking and roosters crowing. The artificial intelligence technology used means that the more data added to the system, the more effective it becomes.

Shyam GorakotaThe system needs to do three things at once — identify all sounds in any environment, isolate target sounds, and preserve the direction of the sound to ensure listeners can localize it against others, said the University of Wisconsin computer science and engineering professor. To work in real time, this is done with just a few milliseconds of audio so the user doesn’t hear any delays.

Scientists need to do this without the cloud computing power that artificial intelligence typically relies on, and instead simply use their phones.

“We designed the first real-time neural network that can extract these target sounds and run them in real time on a smartphone,” said Professor Gollakota. Since news of their research broke, many people working on misophonia have contacted the scientists, including Professor Zachary Rosenthal of University College London Medical School. Duke University Center for Misophonia and Emotion Regulation.

Professor Gollakota and his young researchers, including PhD student Malek Itani, said they were excited to be working on something that could bring real-world benefits. They are looking to develop a commercial version of their invention.

“You’re talking about augmenting human auditory perception with artificial intelligence,” Professor Gorakota said.

Dr Jane Gregory of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s leading experts on the disease and has it herself.she is Sounds like phonophobia: How to stop small noises from causing extreme reactions.

Dr. Gregory said the Seattle study could have huge potential because it’s important to think about how to help people with misophonia “be more involved in life.”

If headphones could allow people to sit down and eat with their families and block out the noise that triggers them but preserve conversations and ambient noise, “that would be a game changer for a lot of people because suddenly they would be able to have a sit-down experience.” and the social experience of eating,” she said.

For Julie Anderson, a mother of two and two grandchildren who has long worked in the hospitality industry, the technology could dramatically improve her life.

She said the noise of someone tapping change in a bar was often distracting, and that being able to block out that noise with just a tap on her phone allowed her to engage more with the world.

“I think this could change a lot of people’s lives,” she said.