You may be right in some way, but not the one you're thinking.
Barking dogs create an actual, physiological response in human beings. THe same way a crying baby triggers a parenting response in humans (baby cry, must pick it up and comfort it - it's too annoying to let it cry!).
A barking dog triggers the fight-or-flight response in humans. It's evolution - a pack-hunting canine emitting a yelp is something that the human animal takes as an "oh-shyT!". It's not a learned or conditioned response; it's physiological.
Now put the human mind under that stress all day. It's not just the noise level that keeps people up - many people learn to sleep through passing trains. It's the character of the bark - we evolved to be on heightened alert. It will wake you up. It will put your body under stress.
Keep that up day after day, week after week, year after year... it will literally drive a person crazy!
Why not the owners? Half the time they are drunks, druggies, bikers, ghetto ass losers who are already living under those stsressors, or are under the influence of substances so the effect is not normal. Everyone else, I've noticed, that seems like 'normal' people, they are the ones that leave their dog outside while they arent' home to bark all weekend or during the day until they get home. They also let their dogs run around the neighborhood so they don't have to deal with them. Sheer laziness.
SO don't be too hard on the poor people who are at their wits end on what to do when they've been suffering under this stress for months or even years on end. It is not just frustration on their part - it is a type of stress-induced trauma. Fight or flight, and they've got nowhere to run to; all they have left is fight.
