Ok, I just had an idea. It may be smart, or just stupid, but what if you had some ear buds in, and set an alarm that says “You are in a dream” to tell yourself you are dreaming in a dream. Would this work? 
Yes external cues can filter into your dreams. The trick is training your dream self to recognize the cues. The nova dreamer worked by sending visual cues into your dreams. The thing is that they don’t always appear in the dream the way you expect. Ie. Flashing Lights might come through as car headlights or fireworks. But you train yourself to recognize the cues.