Boy has ‘permanent hearing loss’ in right ear from AirPods notification, lawsuit says
A 12-year-old boy was using his Apple AirPods to watch Netflix on his iPhone when his Texas parents say an Amber Alert blared through the earbuds.
While they say their son was using his AirPods “at a low volume,” the Amber Alert notification “went off suddenly, and without warning, at a volume that tore apart (the child’s) ear drum.” The sound caused “permanent hearing loss in his right ear,” according to his parents.
Two years later, the now-teenager still suffers severe hearing loss and other related symptoms, according to a May 16 lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California.
His parents, of San Antonio, are now suing Apple and AirPods supplier Luxshare-ICT in federal court. The teen is identified only as B.G.
The legal team representing the family says the AirPods are defective, and they believe Apple and its supplier were negligent — leading to B.G.’s hearing loss.
Apple and Luxshare-ICT did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on May 19.
The filed complaint says the AirPods the boy was using on May 17, 2020, were purchased from an Apple Store on Nov. 29, 2019. They were bought new, and no alterations or repairs had been made.
They believe the AirPods are defective in their design and manufacturing, and/or a lack of warnings and instructions were not provided for “unreasonable risks.”
The legal team says “the AirPods do not automatically reduce, control, limit, or increment notification or alert volumes to a safe level that causes them to emit or transmit ... dangerous sounds directly into the ear canal while the user incorrectly believes that the AirPods are working as intended.”
So, sudden sound increases, like in the case of an Amber Alert for an abducted child, are “posing and unreasonable or serious risk to the wearer’s hearing and health,” according to the lawsuit.
Apple was aware of this flaw prior to the boy’s injuries, the legal team believes, as the lawsuit says there were at least 1,538 complaints from AirPod users as of April 12, 2019. The complaints all regarded “sudden and unexpected increase(s) in sound volume during notifications or alerts that soared to dangerous, injurious levels.”
In a screen grab of a post to Apple Community on April 12, 2019, a user said “when a notification comes through I want to rip my AirPods out, it is so loud.”
In the Texas boy’s case, the blaring notification caused tinnitus (ringing in one or both ears), dizziness, vertigo and nausea, according to the lawsuit. His right cochlea was damaged during the alert, causing “pain, suffering, and disabilities leading to the loss of the pleasures of life.”
He will also need a hearing aid for as long as he lives, the lawsuit says, and he’ll need routine health visits, testing and monitoring.
His family is seeking a jury trial and at least $75,000 in damages, saying Apple and its supplier were liable for B.G.’s injuries and the emotional stress his family has since endured.
This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 11:48 AM with the headline "Boy has ‘permanent hearing loss’ in right ear from AirPods notification, lawsuit says."