The error sound in old ATMs matches the tone before my episodes

what is the frequency of the tone. not the note, the Hz value. this matters for the comparison.

looked at it. the ATM error tone is normally a synthetic 880Hz burst. what you posted is 880Hz with a second harmonic at 440Hz that should not be there. that is not standard firmware.

the continuity loss is the more important detail. how long is four seconds for you subjectively. is it instantaneous or a slow fade.

breakpoint here. the four seconds feel like nothing. no fade, no blur. just before and after with nothing between. the before moment is always mid-transaction.

this reads like absence seizure symptomology triggered by a specific audio cue. not dismissing the strangeness. just noting that the mechanism might be neurological rather than external.

I matched the same harmonic pattern to a tone used in early emergency broadcast test sequences. the band was retired in the nineties. I do not know how it ended up in that machine.

I have the same reaction to one specific ringtone. not all ringtones. one specific one. I do not know which phone it is. I just stop wherever I am and lose the window.