I love that so many people answer this with "well, just get headphones" ... which just seems like an admission of a design mistake to me.

I think the real reason open floorplans are popular is money. It's MUCH cheaper to cram 20 people into 200 square feet than to let 3 people sit in offices (in the same square footage).

Now you know why 50% haven't returned to office spaces like corporate america (and specifically corporate real-estate owners) would have hoped.