Audio drama and podcast creators, I love you all dearly. But please, for the love of gods, please warn for, include only very briefly, and/or exclude chewing noises. They're a common misophonia trigger--and in this context I am not using "trigger" in the way it is unfortunately often misused, as in "this is mildly uncomfortable/I dislike it." It is a real trigger: it causes immediate, intense discomfort, activates fight-or-flight instincts, and tends to invoke extreme emotions, particularly anger and frustration. Unfortunately those of us with misophonia don't get used to our trigger noises, either; it does not become easier to block out over time. In fact, in my experience and from what I've heard from other people, the frustration tends to become much worse the longer the noise goes on.
It is incredibly frustrating to run across chewing sounds in audio-based media, especially when tracked loudly under someone speaking (thus making it a choice between suffering through or losing parts of the story); it is akin to nails on a chalkboard. (Please do not get me started on unskippable commercials with loud, prolonged crunching and smacking, though of course y'all don't have control over those.) Of course sound engineering and design sometimes call for sounds that are considered uncomfortable by many, but those are typically limited in duration or considerably rarer. Extended chewing noises, however, seem to be more common. I recognize why--it is a useful sound cue--but given that this disorder is fairly common and chewing noises are among--if not the most--common triggers, I imagine it disturbs a great deal of listeners.
Anyway. If this does happen to reach anyone, thank you for reading through this :) and I encourage y'all to go look into misophonia a little more. It's not particularly well known, but many people have it, and increased awareness would help a lot of us. <3
