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Some days I can barely even get started working, because I am already anticipating interruption. Wearing headphones doesn't help. I think it should be a clear social signal, but other people do not. In fact, they talk to me as if I can hear them (I cannot) and have to repeat whatever their introduction sentence was when I finally take them off. Why is this normal?

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One way to do this would be to buy (e.g) a bunch of white caps and tell your coworkers to wear them when they need to concentrate, and to not disturb others when they are wearing them. I know of at least one company that does this and it works well for them. You can also do this with headphones, just tell your coworkers politely.

Why don't you ask those people? Or explain your signaling mechanism a bit more.

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