According to a lawsuit filed against Apple, a 12-year-old boy in Texas suffered severe ear damage while he was wearing AirPods and watching Netflix when an Amber Alert siren went off. According to the complaint filed by the boy's parents:
On May 17, 2020, B.G. [the boy] was watching Netflix on his iPhone connected to the AirPods at a low volume when an Amber Alert went off suddenly, and without warning, at a volume that tore apart B.G.'s ear drum, damaged his cochlea, and caused significant injuries to B.G.'s hearing. Further, as a result of the damage to his right ear, B.G. has suffered from bouts of dizziness, vertigo, and nausea. At 12 years old, B.G. suffered sudden and permanent hearing loss in his right ear, other significant and temporary or permanent injuries, pain, suffering, and the loss of the pleasures of life as a direct result of Defendants' defective AirPods. The severe hearing loss in B.G.'s right ear continues to persist. B.G. will require consistent clinical follow-up visits, testing and monitoring, and must use hearing aid for the rest of his life.
The plaintiffs make a good case that Amber Alerts shouldn't start playing at an ear-blasting, nerve-jarring volume. Listeners should be given a chance to remove their earbuds before the volume reaches an ear-splitting level.
Defendants place defective AirPods into the stream of commerce that (a) fail to automatically reduce or limit notification and/or alert volumes, (b) fail to self-adjust, gradually increase, or otherwise equalize notification and/or alert volumes, and (c) fail to include any warnings of the defect(s) described herein or fail to include inadequate warnings of the defect(s) described herein.
