Ecstacy and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

    Ecstacy, which contains MDMA, is an amphetamine derivative that is used in contemporary times for its euphoric, empathogenic, hallucinatory, and stimulatory effects on the body.  It was originally developed to treat depression and anxiety disorders and is currently being observed as a potential treatment for patients and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.  This study was conducted with regards to the increased use worldwide of this drug by adolescents and young adult populations.

    The most common setting regarding such usage involves nightclubs and raves or dance parties where participants consume a copious amount of MDMA and dance to loud electronic music for long periods of time.  Not only do some immediate potential problems present themselves such as hyperthermia due to the congestive nature of the clubs, but others include long term effects such as noise-induced hearing loss.  This particular study concerns the use of MDMA and its potential to enhance the noise-induced hearing loss among clubbers, rave-goers, and psychiatric patients.  This is due to the fact that both serotonin and dopamine play a protective and preventative role for acoustic trauma and MDMA administration induce neurotoxicity by similar mechanisms of altercation.  They discovered that ecstasy enhances noise induced hearing loss, but does not facilitate it when taken alone without the rave setting.  This indicates that MDMA is still a viable psychotherapeutic drug in contemporary applications.  However, an important concern lies with our youth and the responsibilities they must undertake in order to prevent hearing loss which can be detrimental intellectually, socially, and functionally.  A mature audience should have no problem taking MDMA, but they should refrain from listening to loud music or sounds that would increase their risk for hearing loss, myocardial damage, and neuronal degeneration.  Furthermore, the study indicates that future research can be done with MDMA with regards to studying the roles of serotonin and dopamine in auditory functions.  Future research also needs to be conducted for polydrug use and other abused drugs that can potentiate noise-induced hearing loss.  

Link to article:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/pubmed/23711768

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/science/article/pii/S0378595513001378