Long term consequences of wearing ear plugs

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Are there any long term consequences of wearing ear plugs or ear defenders? I have hearing aids and a moderate hearing loss in both ears but I rarely use them because without a radio aid which only zooms in on the target speaker's voice I feel that sounds are painfully loud.

As it's getting brighter (I'm in the northern hemisphere) my eyes feel like they're burning more and more. I am waiting until the weekend to buy new sun glasses as my old ones got lost and my spare have broken. I am also much more stressed as university deadlines are approaching. The result is that my hearing has also become more sensitive and I feel like people are shouting. I'm not sure how much longer I can cope with this.

I know that blocking out sound can make it more likely that you need to re-learn how to tune them out later. I've never really learnt to do this and am concerned that it will make my difficulties worse in the long term.

the consequences of long-term ear defenders (and sunglasses) are comparable to those of painkillers; you get used to being under their effect and your body assumes this as the new norm.
once this desentisation has happened, you will have lost your primary means of blocking out input (light, sound, headackes...), so you must transfer to something stronger to get an actual effect.

i myself do always carry ear defenders and sunglasses, but i limit their use to a minimum, to prevent just that; and i am already noticing the effects still.
mainly while driving; i put on the sunglasses there as a precaution, but more and more often, i need them at night too (LED streetlights and sharp-blue headlights...) which is resulting in me being effectively blind without them during the day. i'm trying to reverse the effect by driving in sunlight without glasses, but that is dangerous at the moment...

I might try doing something counterinstinctive: use headphones with music and listen to something you like for a few hours a day. It helps me. The problem is stopping doing it. It's addictive and I end up lost in the same music all day and can't stop. So for a while now I have been avoiding it but I noticed my sound and noise tolerance decreases when I am not doing the music thing.

i have been wearing them for years
the only side efect is ear wax build up

just make sure you twist them to let in some air before you pull them out
otherwise you get a vacuum and it hurts your ear drum

I use earplugs very often but not all the time. I'd say on average I have earplugs in my ears for 15 hours per day. I have been doing that for about 5 years but I don't think I have any problem when I'm not wearing them.

However, I seem to have developed (mild) tinnitus a few years ago. I don't know if it's because of the earplugs. I'm wondering if it was because there were times when the foam earplugs hurt the inner ears very badly just wearing them. Any way, I don't think that's the kind of side effect that you are talking about.