[strictnein]

I want a cube because it's not the noise that bothers me but the constant motion on the periphery of my vision.

Cubes can be setup properly. They don't need to be row after row after row of cubes. We have them setup in pods that hold 6-8 people, one pod for each dev team. Only one way in or out, so there's no traffic moving through, with a small table in the middle that's mainly used to eat lunch or store treats that people bring in.

[cdegroot]

That. My previous employer was a subsidiary of a large US company. The subsidiary was all hip and open plan and I hated our office, even after I got some mild adaptations done (moved team assignments to "positive space" islands and install a 20" sound partition between teams' desks so at least teams had some privacy). The mothership had these neat Herman Miller layouts with team pods. It looked (to my European design sensitivities) butt-ugly, but I loved sitting there. So quiet, and the only bit of interruption you had was probably relevant because it came out of your team. Not a random sales guy strolling by (sorry, sales peeps - love you, but you're a noisy bunch ;-))

[jlebrech]

maybe you need a cube-aware voice chat system. or just a contact list inside of noise cancelling headphones.

[strictnein]

How would that help limit movement in my peripheral vision?