For years I thought I was just weird (I know I am now), hearing tests at work proved I had super sensitive hearing and could pick up the faintest background noises. I missed half of what was taught at school because I was distracted my noises. One of the main reliefs about my asperger's diagnosis was finding out that I am indeed super sensitive to noise. Someone eating with their mouth open is akin to nails scrapping down a blackboard in my ears.
As far as I'm concerned there are rules when eating food or drinking drinks;
- If you want to converse with someone, stop eating. Say it don't spray it.
- Take your time and eat slowly with your mouth closed. Its not a race and nobody will take your food away so savour it rather than hovering it up.
- Gum is just pointless especially the ones containing artificial sweetener. Your wearing out your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) for absolutely no benefit. Plus the sound emitted is disgusting.
Eating like it is your last meal with awful smacking and chewing sounds and gasping for breath after taking a drink raises my anxiety badly. With all the food intolerance issues its not uncommon to see people, especially kids with blocked noses breathe through their mouth when they eat.