Adam Cogan blogged about the problems of listening to music while working. Dr Neil replied it has it place.
I agree with both of their points, I wear headphones to help block the team noise when I am doing a known task. Mainly house music.
An issue Adam missed was:
People throwing objects to gain attention. I just had a lunch box crash into my desk, because my house music so was funky that my legs were jiggling ( E-Smoove - I Hear The Music off Nice ‘n’ Urlich 2) that my chair was squeaking. I had not noticed the paper and rubber bands so the projectiles had escalated. I was then told be thankful it was not a book!
It took about 5 minutes to calm down enough to even find out why I’d been attacked. 15 minutes later, I’m almost feeling calm, but not at the funky happy place I was. Now that productive time lost. All because of music.