Reason #762 I am glad I work in academia:

No need for a pair of dray-horse-like "blinkers" because someone decided an open-plan office would "enhance productivity." (or save money on walls/cubicles).

Seriously.

If people are having to build those (and wear them) in order to get work done, shouldn't management realize that not everyone can work in that kind of environment? A lot of stuff in the modern corporate world seems a little bit inhumane to me. (And I'm saying that having had a sibling who worked for ~5 years in corporate before fleeing to Divinity School and a much happier career as an adjunct to academe.)

I know if I worked in an open plan office, I'd either look for a new job, agitate for some kind of "walls" between me and noise and movement (I'm very easily distracted). As a last resort I'd wear those, but more as a protest than anything - I'd find them annoying (and they're probably not good for the scalp.)