Can't study at work!

I have as much privacy as space will allow in that I have the best / most private cubicle of about 8 Instructors (whoopee I guess). But even at that I can't concentrate when others are talking very loudly and right nearby.

In particular there is one female who has zero concept of how loud she is, this despite the fact that I've made very reasonable efforts to let her know and this despite the fact that in a moment of candor she admitted she has been told by others (in the distant past I gather) that she has an overly loud harsh voice.

Maybe she has hearing problems, and that's why she's so loud, who knows.

It’s not helped by the fact that her conversations are most always insignificant, mundane and pedestrian. Plus she is the only female thus many of the guys encourage her so as to have at least a semblance of female attention. The technical institute in which I teach is male dominated unsurprisingly. Thus chances are very good that if she is within earshot she is constantly talking.

Any-who I've great got noise-canceling headphones and a laptop dedicated for tunes, but even so her voice is so loud and penetrating it can be heard above that, unless the tunes are rather loud. Also because I have a strong musical background I find it very hard to have music playing while I study, so in one sense the noise-canceling headphones plus laptop dedicated to tunes is self-defeating.

To make things just a bit worse two years of Pavlovian conditioning has now gotten to the point whereby if I hear her voice (very easy to do at any distance due to the harshness and loudness of it) I may get me me a bit irked even if I am not trying to study.

I have (given enough time and perseverance) managed to be able to tune out many other distractions over the years (such as my wife's talking) but I've had limited success in this regard.

I figure maybe I could give her credit to an on-line sex aide shop to shut her up and/or perhaps I could take up yoga.