Shortly before I went on maternity leave, I had a coworker a few desks away who was hacking up a lung all day, every day. Think lingering pneumonia, for months on end.
I took to listening to Mongolian throat singing through high quality headphones at high volume on loop, and it still couldn't drown it out. I was being driven slowly nuts, and my friend was encouraging me to disclose ASD to HR so I could get special accommodations for a seat move. I'm still slightly terrified of the stigma though, so I never did.
When I got back from mat leave, he had died.
Never found out what it was, but now I'm glad I didn't go to HR because I'm sure that's the last thing the poor guy needed. Still, I really wish it were socially acceptable to suggest a person in that situation get a desk in a private room, it would have made everybody's lives less miserable. Yesterday I heard a couple other coworkers talking about it and discovered I wasn't the only one who hated the noise. The guy was apparently a talented developer though.
I'm sure I've bitched about this on here before but it had a big impact on me.