I think I'm pretty lucky that the volume of my noise is fairly quiet - I don't know how but I can USUALLY shove it into the background.

However, I'm uber-sensitive to background noises when I'm trying to do work. Real ones and the ones in my head. Like.... instead of listening to some speaker, I might be listening to the person near me writing with their pen. Or the fan. Or someone coughing. Or I might end up hearing the song in my head more than the person. Or I might keep tuning them out and find my grocery list popping up. Or I might start recounting a conversation I had earlier. When I notice it, I tune back in... but that might only last a few seconds before it's gone again.

Reading quite often works for me - or watching a tv show. It might not work perfectly, but the longer I keep at the activity the more like I am to get my brain to slow down and focus on the task -but only if I enjoy it. It's how I get myself to sleep, because unless I'm EXHAUSTED then my silly little head won't quiet down enough to sleep.

If I can't focus on the book? Then I am in tttrrrooouble and need to be doing something active.