Foreign accents are a brick wall to me, too. Some times, I have to ask for a supervisor to get away from the accents. I often tell that person that when somebody speaks with a strong accent, I spend so much effort trying to understand each word that I do not have the ability to understand the sentence. Seniors often have this same problem.

Sitting or standing in a corner works for me, too. But, I face away from the corner. It helps to be able to identify the sounds so my brain can let go of the 'what was that?' thought process.