Our limbic systems have no concept of "time out". One of my Dr.s told me that as a child his family moved into a house near railroad tracks. A train roared and hooted by in the middle of every night. The first night they about crappped their panties--nobody'd told them about the damn train coming by every frigging night... By the third night they were ALL sleeping through it. CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT???
I have to bury myself under blankets and pillows with nothing but my nose peeking out, live way out in the middle of quiet nowhere, shut down all electic gear so there are no humms, etc. etc. etc. to even have a prayer of sleep. I don't know how y'all lviing with neighbors and traffic and all that civilized stuff do it. If I hadn't moved to the country I'd be dead by now from a lifetime of lack of sleep. Noise machines just escalate my limbic irritation, darn it. My worst fear is being hospitalized or put in a home..... it would kill me. I'd rather take a bag of dark chocolate (for me) and a bag of donuts (to attract a bear) into the woods than have to "live" in civilization. It's so neat to chat with folks who understand. Sound sensitivity is not a joke.