I recall someone's suggestion to wear ear buds, even if your are not playing anything. The social norm is to avoid interrupting such a person -- keeps at least some of the interruptions at bay.

I've found some CD's of "white noise" and I intend to try playing this. In the past, I've used a fan to take the edge off of background noise. One of the CD's is for "fan noise"; maybe this will help.

I'm cautious of playing anything too loud for too long. Even lower level noise can be damaging when heard for extended periods of time.

EDIT: Unmunge word choice.