You probably hate noisy eaters, right? There is a very good reason why.

Misophonia, a disorder which means sufferers have a hatred of sounds such as eating, chewing, loud breathing or even repeated pen-clicking, was first named as a condition in 2001.

In an report published in the journal Current Biology, scientists said scans of misophobia sufferers found changes in brain activity when a 'trigger' sound was heard.

Brain imaging revealed that people with the condition have an abnormality in their emotional control mechanism which causes their brains to go into overdrive on hearing trigger sounds. The researchers also found that trigger sounds could evoke a heightened physiological response, with increased heart rate and sweating.