This is a cool concept. I read post on Core77 about a design for a chair. The chair has a piece on the top of it that sort of surrounds the person sitting in it. They say that the chair actually does block out surrounding noise… not to mention that it also blocks out what is going on around the person. While this may not be the most normal thing to bring into a normal office, I could see it being a huge help particularly for designers, or college students for that matter. It would allow the person to concentrate better.The “Workbay” as it is known, was designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.
http://www.contemporist.com/2008/12/10/the-workbay-chair-by-ronan-and-erwan-bouroullec/