Between anxiety and ADHD, I have extremely sensitive hearing. My brain doesn't understand how to drown out human noises most of the time, and certain noises literally hurt.
I was on a virtual call today in the office at my cubicle. Even though it was only 9AM, everyone apparently had too much caffeine as there were at least three conversations happening around me. Coworkers to the right, to the left, in front of me… and behind me a coworker was playing around with some device with the loudest beeps ever.
I had to flee to the front area with reception because it was so loud that I couldn't hear the people on the call and my anxiety was launching into the stratosphere.
Why are corporations so obsessed with open cubicle environments? They are so horrible for getting any actual work done. I have to wear noise-cancelling headphones to be able to focus and often I can STILL hear everyone through those. When at home it's way quieter and I can actually communicate better in meetings and through chats.
Ugh.