I am a researcher within a trading company, and we work altogether in an open space office. Previously I worked in academia, had my own office, which was a great help in focusing. Trading noise is quite distracting, especially on days when just by myself I feel it hard to concentrate. Despite several people mentioning visual distractions, I think for me the main issue is the sound.
- I tried to use headphones to listen to music while coding/doing math, however that also acts as a distraction to me.
- I have also tried white/pink/brown noise, but could not leave it on for more then 5 minutes.
- I tried active noise cancellation headphones, with no music - but the noise reduction they bring is minimal.
The best result I was able to achieve were ear plugs, the ones some people use for sleeping, however this is not very handy. I wondered, whether I can use anything else. Namely, something that does not produce any sound (music/white noise), but isolates from external sounds. Unfortunately, moving to a different room/asking colleagues to be quieter is not an option at all, so the solution should be something that just prevents myself from being distracted by their sound activities.