Am I the only one that experiences anxiety when imposing sensory deprivation on myself in a crowded environment?
When headphones are effective at masking background noise, people sometimes tap me on the shoulder or knock on my desk. It can be really jarring if you're lost in thought and not aware of your surroundings. Interruptions are normally costly, but being surprised like that makes it so much harder to regain focus afterward.
There's also an Exercism track that has exercises contributed by Gleam's creator: https://exercism.org/tracks/gleam