J litestytes 5 DENNIS PAGE photo Hannah Little, an arts and science student, isn’t concerned about blasting her old-school hip-hop tunes when she’s cruisin’ the Canada Line. “If they put a limit on the volume, Id be pissed off,” said Little on Monday, January 30, 2012, while hangin’ outside of A-building. These expert opinions on hearing loss may not be music to your ears By DENNIS PAGE att Landels, a business ad- ministration student at Lan- gara, listens to his head- phones for a couple of hours a day while he commutes to school, and really cranks the tunes while he’s skateboarding. According to Sandra Baker, an audi- ologist at the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, students like Landels, may be putting them- selves at risk for long term hearing damage. “In industry, if someone is working in noise at 85 decibels for eight hours, then hearing protection is required,” said Baker in a Voice interview last week. How does one know if they are lis- tening to their music too loud and just how loud is 85dB? Baker offered this guideline: “If someone’s listening to [their] MP3 player and they can’t have a conversa- tion with a person standing nearby, who is speaking at a conversational level, then it’s too loud.” That ringing in your ears when you’ve been at a party or a concert is most likely short-term hearing dam- age. The good news is, in most cases, your hearing later corrects itself. According to Baker, the risk with headphones is prolonged excessive vol- ume causes damage that is not detect- able until it is too late. In 2009, the European Union intro- duced regulation that limits the default volume settings of headphones to 85 decibels. But users are able to override the default settings, up to a maximum of 100 decibels. This was put into effect based on studies a year earlier that estimated that over 10 million people in the EU could be at risk for permanent, long- term hearing damage. Dr. Kapil Khatter, a family physician in Ottawa, is pushing for Canada to adopt similar regulations as the EU. “Tt may be that in 30 years this may be one of the major causes of hearing loss, but nobody knows for sure, so the feeling is, let’s not wait 30 years to find out,” said Khatter. Hanna Little, an arts and science stu- dent at Langara, admits to listening to her favorite hip-hop tunes pretty loud and states, “If they put a limit on the volume, I’d be pissed off.” For the safest listening, both Khatter and Baker recommend using noise- cancelling headphones, so you don’t have to play music at dangerous levels. 66 In industry, if someone is working in noise of 85 dB’s for eight hours hearing protection is required Sandra Baker, audiologist at WIDH Growing leg hair for good Maritime med students raise cash and awareness for cervical cancer by abstaining from shaving By QUINN MELL-COBB b-U-Hairy is officially underway. [E: the third straight year, let the growing begin. Inspired in part by the popular Mo- vember movement, Feb-U-Hairy is a variation to raise money and aware- ness for cervical cancer. The catch? Feb-U-Hairy’s female participants must pledge to go an entire month without shaving their legs. Feb-U-Hairy is the brainchild Kath- leen Callanan and Angelique Myles, both medical students at Memorial Uni- versity in Newfoundland and Labrador. As Feb-U-Hairy is set to begin its third annual go-around Callanan finds her- self very pleased by the progression from its humble beginnings in Febru- ary 2010. “['m always surprised when people beyond our circle of classmates, friends and family have heard about the event,” Callanan said. “I met a middle-aged woman last year who said she started a growing team at her office after seeing the event on the news. It’s cool to see the message is reaching a varied demo- graphic.” Determining which worthy organiza- tion will receive their pledges earned during Feb-U-Hairy was an easy deci- sion, with Callanan and Myles ulti- mately deciding on Planned Parent- hood NL, a group whom Callanan referred to as “a great partner,” citing their providing of a pap clinic to help make cervical cancer testing more ac- cessible for women in Newfoundland and Labrador. Though Feb-U-Hairy has yet to strike a chord with female students at Langa- ra College Callanan is hopeful for its future. ‘Td like to see [Feb-U-Hairy] keep growing and continue to have more participants and funds raised every year,” said Callanan, adding that she “would also hope to see the event take off in other provinces.” To the women out there who support the cause, but are unwilling to go a full month without shaving, Callanan had some sound advice. “Like you were really going to shave this month anyway. The men had Mo- vember, so now it’s our turn.” Langara instructor isn't Crazy about latest iBuzz Political science teacher Paul Prosperi uses tech in his classroom, but doesn’t drink the Apple Kool-Aid By AUDREY MCKINNON ile some think that iBooks 2, Apple’s new publishing soft- ware, will dominate the text- book industry, Langara faculty argue that going digital doesn’t necessarily mean going iDigital. Launched in the U.S. last week, iBooks 2, promises to change what we know about textbooks: that they’re heavy and expensive. The new tool allows access to text- books on Apple’s touchscreen devices at a significantly lower price than hard copy and lets users build their own textbooks. But Langara faculty members have concerns about the new tool and say that they have other solutions to re- duce costs and backpack sizes without joining the iClub. Paul Prosperi, a Langara political science professor, has already begun changing from weighty books and high prices. This semester he started posting the course reader material online for free. He also ordered custom textbooks in hard copy composed of selected arti- cles from the publisher, reducing the pages from almost 700 to 200. “One of my primary considerations is to try and help students with the cost of textbooks,” he said, adding that it’s good for the environment too. Global Equities Research, a Dela- ware-based company that monitors Apple’s iBook sales by a proprietary tracking system, estimates that iBooks 2 will mean a 33 to 35 per cent drop in book prices. This could benefit Langara students like 21-year-old transfer student An- nette Lee who spent nearly $300 on textbooks this semester. But Prosperi said that he wouldn’t consider iBooks 2 a practical option since it is limited to the iPhone or the iPad and not all students would have access. “T wouldn’t even consider something like that,” said Prosperi. Lee has another concern too. “If look at a screen too long my eyes will get tired,” she said although she would appreciate the savings. Bookstore director Mark Adams knows that techy-textbooks are inevi- table even though he says digital ver- sions currently only account for about one per cent of the Langara bookstore’s sales. “It’s those students that are in high school and in grade school that are be- ing brought up on laptops and digital materials that are going to grow up on that. That’s all they’re going to know and it’s all they’re going to want,” he said. Someday, products like it iBooks 2 may totally eliminate the need for bookstores. “Depending on how the business model works itself out, potentially we could be cut right out of the picture,” said Adams. AUDREY MCKINNON photo Langara transfer student Annette Lee, 21, is comfort- able with both paper and technology as she studies for a test outside the cafeteria on Friday, January 27, 2012.