Even at the 'good' example you state when engineering was separate from other departments, I would still find that there could be 4-6 different conversations be

Even at the 'good' example you state when engineering was separate from other departments, I would still find that there could be 4-6 different conversations being held within a few feet of me at various times in the day (every day) at a recent job I had. And usually there was at least 1 or 2 conversations within earshot for most of the day. I had no choice but to where headphones in order to drown out the conversations to focus. A year and a half ago I developed a constant Tinnitus in my left ear, and I suspect that job contributed to it. So that's fun, and something I get to deal with for the rest of my life. Thanks open office.