The whole point with the office (for me) is to provide an environment to maximize developer output of value.
I do not need to serendeptiously eavesdrop on every discussion on the floor with 40 people to provide maximum ouput. What I do need, is quiet.
Vice versa it is fair to ask why cant the people who yearn extra stimulus to install disco lights in their offices and play some bazar tape from their headphones :)
It has nothing to do with introvert / extrovert from what I can see. But I don't understand why people keep thinking that headphones are some magic cure all. Sometimes you need quiet so you can focus, and just replacing one source of noise with another does absolutely nothing. Not to mention that "open plan" allows a constant stream of visual and tactile distractions as well as auditory.
Really, open plan offices have no redeeming qualities at all that I can see. They're optimized to disrupt productivity to the greatest possible degree, while providing a superior illusion of collaboration. In my experience, they're a complete joke.
You can't disregard your peripheral vision. People walking behind me all day stresses me out in a predictable fashion, as it does with most introverts I've worked with. Unfortunately for me, most startup programmers these days seem to be extroverts. Which makes sense, I suppose, given the large percentage of apps focused on all things social.