When I was in high school, my math teacher would play Mozart during tests, claiming it would help us. It would drive me crazy, and I doubt that my grades improved as a result of the distraction.
For what it's worth, I have a BMus in Piano Performance. I love music... but never as "background noise"!
But when there's music, I like to enjoy it thoroughly, concentrating on it. I cannot really control it, and it's impossible for me to focus on code or reading when there's music playing around. I contrast this with most of my friends that seem to listen to music almost the whole day.
As a cautionary tale, I used to have very good hearing as well, probably because I didn't listen to music or go to concerts as much as my peers. I think I lost that, mostly as a result of joining my university's brass band... Use earplugs if you do. I could only fully concentrate in very silent environments (almost anechoic), but nowadays I'm doing better as a result (and I now hear this buzzing noise floor when things get too silent). And I now have trouble hearing people in noisy environments: hearing loss impacted both my ability to pick faint noises, and to differentiate noise sources. I still have average hearing, I think, though I should get it tested. Unsure if I can get it back.