LOL--I hate loud/popping gum chewers. Audible breathers also can be annoying.

A couple years ago, I didn't have a private office and a nasty-girl's cube abutted mine. This was the 30 year old who wore low-rider slacks with no undies and would bend over sex-kitten style. It was not pretty. She hated other white females--saw us all as her "competition" for male attention (in my opinion, the minority ladies were prettier than the group of white women in that office but she didn't see them as a threat to her being the Alpha). I guess that's besides the point but you get where I'm going here.

Anyway, she used to talk on the phone incessantly (personal calls--really loud voice to get attention) and would play Sarah McLaughlin "I Believe" over and over again. I no longer can stand Sarah's music. It was that bad. Here's my solution: I brought in a WHITE NOISE machine and played it. I didn't have to listen to her insipid phone conversations or her endless "I Believe" loop. It was like an electric Zen machine. It didn't interfere w/the work place, either.