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There is actually a disorder that involves this. I have it, it's called Misophonia.

http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/27648.aspx

Misophonia is a rare and little understood disorder that is characterized by an extreme aversion to selective sounds. ............ When exposed to the sounds, the person with misophonia, experiences feelings of rage and extreme anxiety. The particular sounds that a misophonia sufferer is sensitive to varies with each person. Chewing is a noise that commonly bothers misophonia sufferers. Other common noise sensitivities are the sound of scratching, tapping, throat clearing and nasal sniffling.

For me it's mostly crunching/eating noises. If I hear someone crunching, even if that food isn't that crunchy, I literally almost have an anxiety attack because it drives me INSANE. And once I hear it, that's all I can focus on. Like in a movie theatre if I hear people crunching on popcorn by me, I have to force myself to ignore it. Obnoxious crunching in commercials (i.e. Vlasic pickles, Grape Nuts, that damned Kit Kat commercial, Twix commercials)..... don't even get me started on those.

It's also made worse when you're in a bad mood or stressed out.

I've tried to teach myself to just grin and bear it though. I know people can't help the way they sound when they eat. As long as they don't chew with their mouths open, there's nothing they can do to stop the sounds. Me yelling at them won't help at all.