Audiologists to Give Protection Pills to Amsterdam Dance Event Visitors

Dutch Audiologists are giving magnesium/vitamin pills to visitors of the Dutch Amsterdam Dance Event to test whether it helps for preventing hearing damage.

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/38261/Nieuws...-piep-in-oor-voorkomen-bij-feestgangers.dhtml

They argue that young dance visitors are not so aware of using good hearing protection, and this might save them.

What do you guys think of this?

 

Waste of energy, time, and public resources. Probably also sponsored by 'Davitamon'.

Research should focus on core cause and evidence based solutions.

Only good thing about this is the awareness impulse for the general public.

 

Am I missing something here? Is this just a fun experiment. Are they more likely to take pills! If they are 'not aware' isn't this a great opportunity to make them aware, some announcements, and give them a brochure on tinnitus and some free earplugs.

 

They're not giving free earplugs, only the pills.

The thing is that this research is done by one for the most well known audiologists in The Netherlands that is familiar with tinnitus research.

 

I read about this and was not quite sure what to think....

They claim that the research on these pills looks very promising. They state that these specific vitamins and magnesium in the pills could influence the functioning of cells.

Amsterdam Dance Event takes place in October. I wonder who would be a guinee pig for such a thing...

 

The thing is that magnesium is nothing new. I've read somewhere that magnesium was for ringing ears and that book / info was tens of years old.

 

Yes, vitamin C completely reduces the damage of excitotoxicity in the synapses. But only if you take it before being exposed to excitory damage.

 

But only the pills do not protect us from loud noise which can give tons of other problems, not to mention hyperacusis.

 

Hmm so I just wonder if it will help after 4 months.. Any little bit at least.

 

Yes, excitotoxicity in the synapses can be caused by acoustics.

No, I'm afraid not.

 

Ok WoW, i never heard of this. Do you have a link/website/source? How much vit c should one take? I can imagine the pills not working if they are handed out and used that same night. I think it might take a couple of hours for the body to process this and the time this takes could be different for everyone.

 

That's a strong statement. Do you have a source for this? If that was true, the military and police would no doubt have vit C in their daily program.

 

Generally vitamin C does not take that long to proliferate and the difference between people is not significant on the scale of an 8 hour party, in fact it is likely that the hardcore party goers would need another pill halfway through as the body quickly gets rid of it quickly, especially with heavy re-hydration. How much is a very good question, depending on the persons physiology it might not help at all, for most however it will help in protecting their hearing and reduce any temporary buzz. There is no overdose possible with vitamin C so I would suggest 1 gram.
On the whole vitamin C has been shown to reduce excitotoxic damage in the first synapse of the auditory system, which is a part of hearing damage. Specifically in people that are more prone to synaptic damage, than they are to inner hair cell damage. Further sources and causes are written below.

I would not so easily regard military and police neurological excellence above that of audiologists.
Normally I take time to explain, forgive me as I'm not as lucky in this period. Please help me out a little and try to find some sources on your own as well before discounting the following statements, an excellent tool for that is Google Scholar.
It's indeed very foolish they don't have vitamin C in their daily regime but then again I was in a hospital recently where the restaurant picknick tables were covered in plastics shown to disrupt hormone function. These audiologists are not wrong about how to protect the auditory pathway from both temporary buzzing and permanent damage. Furthermore vitamin C is added to many of our foods already.

It's a real bummer that nobody has ever heard of this before these audiologists started handing out vitamins for hearing damage. I can't expect you to know everything on this forum already but the info is here.
I would quote books but most simply would be the following observations and underlying papers. Please use wiki if there is something here that is unfamiliar, all abstracts are accessible without a subscription to the full journals.

The hair cells may be more resilient than the first auditory synapses in the cochlear nucleus, in other words the synapses can diminish through apoptosis before the cochlear epithelial cells or hair cells are damaged.
http://journals.lww.com/neuroreport...icity_and_repair_of_cochlear_synapses.37.aspx
http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/45/14077.full
The synapses of mammals being very basic and small things are all quite similar in their functioning, they have to be to function. For this reason the cases of studies on micro structures can be accurately representative in humans. It has been clinically proven in animals that vitamin C protects neurons from glutamate excesses in the central nervous system.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378595504003478
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X09017811
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00016480701387132
http://journals.lww.com/otology-neu...Review_of_Hair_Cell_Synapse_Defects_in.5.aspx
It is important to note that MSG and synaptic glutamate are both treated exactly the same by the human body. This following study tested if vitamin C would also work in case of MSG induced excitotoxicity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2802046/
Important to understand is that prolonged sound exposure compounds glutamate levels in the synaptic connections. Normally the glial cells will clean this up but the ability to release more glutamate can exceed the ability of the glia to clean it up. Whether the glia are helped by vitamin C, I do not know.

Soon a project called Join the Dots will launch, and the entire anatomy will be explained in the greatest detail. Vitamin C and hearing protection are the two most basic things one can do to protect their hearing.

Let me know if I missed something here which makes it impossible to piece the reasoning together.

 

But you do not mention magnesium, and the audiologists do.

 

Thanks for your response. I did understand. I was just angry and being sarcastic. Knowing that people are 'unaware' and someone is taking the time to give them pills and yet nobody is taking the opportunity to warn them to use ear protection really upsets me. I was one of those 'unaware' people who was taken to just one indoor concert. There were no warnings. I am now very 'aware', but its too late - I have hearing loss and T from just one event. I guess at least handing out pills may alert the 'unaware' to the danger

 

Since it's in Amsterdam, maybe they'll give out free Heineken's, to wash the pills down with?

 

I believe the principle idea is that young adults don't understand the dangers enough to wear ear protection, but they wouldn't object if a doctor tells them this free healthy vitamin pill will protect them just the same. I'm pretty sure all of them have heard that it will damage their ears.

Fair point, I don't mention it because I haven't had the time to spend on researching and learning about the effect of magnesium on the auditory system, and I think I don't have the ability to state any claims on it. Presumably if the audiologists claim it helps I would also lean toward that possibility.
I do know that magnesium has something to do with electrical charges in cells, and since apoptosis (neuron death) occurs because glutamate toxicity elicits a change in static charge it may be involved in the process. If anyone is interested, this would be my anatomical starting point.

 

And now because of these pills I can stand close to the speakers. My hearing is protected.