phonophobia

9.9

A strong fear of sounds, even your own voice

noun
/ˌfoʊnəˈfoʊbiə/

Specialized

: fonofobia

After the accident, he developed phonophobia and avoided places where sounds could trigger his anxiety.

Examples

Migraine attacks often feature severe nausea and vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia, and osmophobia.

Academic text (2011)
Disturbances occurring in other areas of the brainstem and hypothalamus generate symptoms of nausea and vomiting, photophobia, phonophobia, and osmophobia.

Academic text (2011)
People with phonophobia sometimes feel anxious when they hear loud noises.
Her phonophobia made it difficult for her to enjoy concerts, as she feared the sounds would overwhelm her.

Synonyms

acousticophobia

vsphonophobia

Specialized

9.9

A strong fear of sounds, even your own voice

presents the fear as irrational rather than as a clinical problem

How Afraid

to panic

272 2.3

phonophobia

Specialized

9.9

fear

∞ 1.0

anxiety

423 3.5

unease

19 4.4

Surface Forms

phonophobia singular

phonophobias plural

Morphology

phonophobia = phobia (semi-transparent) = phono + phobia

The formation is regular ('phono-' + 'phobia' = fear of sounds), but 'phono-' is a non-productive combining form unfamiliar to many learners.

Etymology

Phonophobia comes from the Greek parts phono- meaning 'sound', as in microphone and telephone, and -phobia meaning 'fear', as in claustrophobia. So Phonophobia really means a 'fear of sound', which is why it describes an extreme or irrational fear of noises, even one's own voice.