Our Beginnings.
Meet Nate.
Nate is the son of Janine, our founder. The youngest of three siblings, Nate developed misophonia at age seven. In the video, he explains his story with developing misophonia, what it looks like for him, and how he manages hearing his triggers in day-to-day life.
Please note: This video includes background noise including bird sounds and wind. If you can’t watch or listen to the video, download the transcript here.
How it all began.
We were just coming out of the pandemic, and we felt like a holiday was what was needed for our family to get away for a bit and relax. Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan.
My husband, Matt, was rushed to hospital with a blod clot near his lung. He got very sick and was laid up for a few months. While sick, he would take really deep (and often loud) breaths. Nate began to scream while hearing him breath this way. We didn’t quite know what was going on - but we know now it was his first trigger. He was young, and didn’t know how to cope so everyday he would yell at his dad to '“stop breathing!” or yell until Matt left the room.
-
It later became a trigger for Nate to hear Matt’s deep voice when he talked. Matt had to stop talking around him.
Years later, he began to trigger at my voice also; in particular the ‘s’ sound. So now, we both had to try and learn to communicate with Nate while also trying not to upset or trigger him. This was incredibly difficult, as at the time Matt and I were both pastors at a local church - we literally talked for a living.
As Nate grew older he learned to remove himself from the situation rather than demanding the space or telling everyone what to do.
He has worn sound proof headphones for every car trip we’ve taken since then.
Eventually we found a specialist in Melbourne who worked with kids with misophonia. For the first time we were hearing about what this thing was, and it brought some understanding and a little bit of clarity.
Our life was upended completely by misophonia, and it’s brought new challenges everyday.
But that’s why I began I Hear You. Because I truly understand. Living rurally for many years, we didn’t have many people who understood our struggle. When we moved to Adelaide, I thought we might find a bit more support. Instead, it was clear so many families like ours were silently struggling. And I’m here to change that.