I could never do that; silence deafens me, the incessant ringing in my head from the quiet driving me crazy. I need at least some music to work to, usually something to fit my moods or the theme/feel of the book at the moment.
Dave
Yeah. It totally is a personal preference. To me it usually rises from forgetting to turn on the music while I have earphones on. A couple of hundred words later I realize that silence works well. The only thing I can't do is listen to music with lyrics. It's like someone talking your ear off while you're trying to concentrate. Even when I'm listening to Pandora and a commercial comes on, I literally have to stop and wait for it to be over before I can continue to write.
If you're not one for complete silence, going outside is pretty peaceful without the complete absence of sound. I live in Florida so it's ridiculously hot here and I'm seldom able to do it.