I use these 3M reusable ear plugs when I use motorized yard equipment at home.

I even have a pair at work when I need to go into a rack room for extended periods of time. Server boxes and equipment fans are rather loud, particularly in a relatively confined space.

I sometimes use these together (Bose and earplugs). These Hearos are really great.

If I absolutely have to block out sound with sound, I use brown noise,

So you're a brownnoiser?

Terrible, JD!

You threw a pitch right into the strike zone, Amy, so I had to hit it.

Ear plugs or muffs are great for protection against loud equipment noise, but are worth zero against distraction.

The best solution is not to have an open plan office. Next best is to avoid stupid practices that generate endless noise, such as installing speaker phones in that open room or allowing people to hang out and gab all day long.

The best solution is not to have an open plan office.

Just tell your boss that they need to scrap the $300K redo of the offices and go back to walls and doors.

Also, there are some people that have no sense that they might be, well, BOTHERING THE LIVING FUCK OUT OF OTHER PEOPLE WITH THEIR BOOMING VOICE.

I've known people who must have thought their phones where sound powered devices - the louder the spoke, the better the signal.

I think Amy has met them when they were on their cell phones. You, them, a clue x 4, some assembly required.

Best solution: Allow folks to work from HOME!

I do that, charles. The woman I work with (who edits my stuff) works from home over Skype. It also saves the person on time -- they don't have to get dressed, go anywhere, look for parking upon arriving, drive home, and look for parking then (we don't all have driveways in LA).

Also, it's far cheaper to eat at home. Coffee, especially, is cheaper.

In the past couple of years my work spot has gone from open to really open to ridiculously open. started with a normal cube in a huge cube farm...wall height about 5'6". This was redone to a mix of cubes and these other setups with 3 stations pointing to a center form kind of a circle...all with very low walls - maybe 4 ft? Noise got worse. I could hear a person eating salad a few hundred feet away if other people were quiet. Then I got moved to a new location...similar to the last but instead of a cube I had a "Bench" - 4x2 desk with cubical walls around that extend just beyond it. So If I look to the side I see my neighbor. This really sucks and don't try to get anything done that requires concentration.

Every place I have worked the coffee has been free (except as an intern - 25 cents)