How to get rid of noise when trying to fall asleep

When trying to fall asleep, I get easily startled by sudden noises.
I use earplugs almost every night and they do make a big difference, but while everything is quieter, I feel I become even more sensitive to footfalls and objects hitting the floor in the apartment on top of us.

It isn't that the folks are loud, they just go about their normal life but go to bed later.

It seems to me that my stress response gets triggered by one or two occurrences and then I just can't fall asleep again for several hours.
How to block / blend out /ignore these footfalls and other noises? I'd be grateful for any suggestions.
Many thanks

Hi, I wish I could use earplugs but I can't because of tinnitus in my right ear. I have to run a fan all night to try to drown out the noise in my ear. It sounds like maybe you're having difficulty entering the truly deep phase of sleep...REM sleep I believe it is. But I could be wrong about that.

Hi Jeg,

thanks for your reply.
Deep sleep is also called slow-wave sleep. Usually we get more deep sleep in the first half of the night. REM sleep (dream sleep) would be more in the second half.
I am not sure how easily sounds would wake me up after I have entered deep sleep.
I believe it is precisely in a lighter sleep phase that I get jolted out of sleep.
But we cycle through these phases throughout the night, so there would always be some times when I am more vulnerable.
Hence it would be great to find something against footfalls etc.

You could also try a white noise machine instead of the fan. I have one on every night.
Uses less power and I can adjust the pitch and volume.
Especially good when you only want to run a fan against the noise.

Footfalls still remain a problem though.