joyce and ben both suffer from a severe form of hyperacusis.wo people with such a rare condition find each other? they first bonded on an online support group. it is okay for me to talk this loud? >> yes, uh-huh. >> reporter: joyce, a writer, says her symptoms developed six years ago after prolonged exposure to a loud ventilation system. >> i felt a wave of pressure descend upon my head, and i knew something terrible had happened, but they didn't know what. i was just delirious with pain. >> reporter: ben, a former banking consultant, says decades of going to loud concerts set the stage for his condition -- but the final trigger was a loud, squeaky printer at his office. >> one day, i woke up and everything was a hundred times louder. >> reporter: can you describe what the pain feels like? >> like somebody lathe match and threw it into my ear. >> reporter: their threshold for sound is now incredibly low. imagine the sound of a cat's meow, like a lion's roar. running water, niagara falls. a bird chirping? think "the birds." >> my example was, yo