Amber Alert on AirPods damaged teenager's hearing, lawsuit claims
The parents of a teenage boy in Texas claim in a new lawsuit that Apple's AirPods ruptured his eardrums when a loud Amber Alert was issued.
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AirPods Pro
Reportedly, the 12-year-old boy, who is referred to as B.G. in the complaint, was watching Netflix on his iPhone while using AirPods Pro when an Amber Alert sounded. The high-pitched noise reportedly damaged his eardrums.
According to the complaint, the sound "tore apart" the boy's eardrums, damaged his cochlea, and caused permanent hearing loss in one ear. Since the incident, which occurred in 2020, B.G. has allegedly suffered from vertigo, dizziness, tinnitus, and nausea, Law360 has reported.
The lawsuit claims that Apple makes "defective" audio accessories that don't automatically lower the volume for alerts. It also goes after the iPhone maker for not issuing a warning about the potential for hearing loss or damage.
Amber Alerts, which are warning messages alerting residents to a child abduction emergency, are automatically sent to smartphones. User reports do corroborate the fact that Amber Alerts come through loudly on AirPods, and may not equalized to the volume of the c content a user is watching.
The complaint seeks damages for B.G. "in amounts would punish Defendants for their conduct and which would deter other technology companies from engaging in such misconduct in the future," among other prayers for relief.
Read on AppleInsider
AirPods Pro
Reportedly, the 12-year-old boy, who is referred to as B.G. in the complaint, was watching Netflix on his iPhone while using AirPods Pro when an Amber Alert sounded. The high-pitched noise reportedly damaged his eardrums.
According to the complaint, the sound "tore apart" the boy's eardrums, damaged his cochlea, and caused permanent hearing loss in one ear. Since the incident, which occurred in 2020, B.G. has allegedly suffered from vertigo, dizziness, tinnitus, and nausea, Law360 has reported.
The lawsuit claims that Apple makes "defective" audio accessories that don't automatically lower the volume for alerts. It also goes after the iPhone maker for not issuing a warning about the potential for hearing loss or damage.
Amber Alerts, which are warning messages alerting residents to a child abduction emergency, are automatically sent to smartphones. User reports do corroborate the fact that Amber Alerts come through loudly on AirPods, and may not equalized to the volume of the c content a user is watching.
The complaint seeks damages for B.G. "in amounts would punish Defendants for their conduct and which would deter other technology companies from engaging in such misconduct in the future," among other prayers for relief.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
To get real hearing damage from a sound source in a short time, it needs to be really, really loud. Like a gunshot near your head loud. An Amber alert may be loud enough to be uncomfortable, but that's about it. I doubt sincerely that AirPods are capable of producing sounds in excess of 120dBSPL in the ear, as that would far exceed design parameters.
Reference: a really loud concert is about 110dB, or half as loud as 120dB (perceptually). Certainly attending a lot of 110dBSPL shows will damage hearing, but not instantaneously and certainly not with the result of ruptured eardrums. One Amber alert isn't anywhere close.
Thanks for any info.
that said, I find it hard to believe even an amber alert could burst an eardrum. Be painful, yes I could believe that. But not actually burst it.
HOW DOES ONE DISABLE THE ALERTS?
As to the lawsuit, I think most suing is stupid. Rather than turn the other cheek, Americans tend to get thrills from going to court over the least little thing. If the boy's hearing was damaged, I suspect he had the volume cranked up too high in the first place, which only made the loud alert even worse.
Logically speaking, in terms of who bears the most responsibility here (aside from the 12-year-old boy, who is a minor after all), would it not be those responsible for sending the Alerts in the first place? I would think they bear the most responsibility. If Apple bears any responsibility at all, it would be secondary responsibility, not primary. How so? Because in this case, one is asking Apple to help out people with a particular problem; namely, the problem of stupidly loud alerts entering the phone in the first place. Now that the problem has been identified, it would be a nice perk if Apple could address it, but I think an email to Tim Cook would have been better than a lawsuit.
aha, it’s a US only problem feature. https://www.imore.com/amber-alerts-your-iphone-what-they-are-and-how-manage-them