Earplugs, man. I got turned on to the joy of earplugs when doing construction work. The foam ones that you scrunch up with your fingers and expand in your ear,

Earplugs, man. I got turned on to the joy of earplugs when doing construction work. The foam ones that you scrunch up with your fingers and expand in your ear, and throw away after. It's a very different feeling. I feel like I'm underwater when I'm wearing them. I worked at a wonderful agency with an open-plan office last time. I used earplugs the whole time and loooved it. You get all of the benefits of an open-plan office, minus the distractions of music or chatter, and for me at least, less of the ear-sweat I associate with all headphones. Also, anecdotal evidence -- people seem somewhat more hesitant to interrupt someone wearing earplugs than someone who's listening to music. I might be wrong there.