Lawsuit claims AirPods ruptured the eardrums of one user

Air Pods Pro on stage
Air Pods Pro on stage (Image credit: Rene Ritchie / iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple is facing a new lawsuit in California.
  • The lawsuit alleges that an Amber Alert played through a set of AirPods Pro ruptured the eardrums of one user.
  • The lawsuit is seeking damages from the company.

Apple is being sued over the volume level of Amber Alerts in its AirPods.

As reported by Law360 (via MacRumors), someone has filed a lawsuit claiming that their twelve-year-old suffered ruptured eardrums when an Amber Alert sound played through his AirPods.

The child, identified as B.G. in the filing, was watching a movie on Netflix on his iPhone in 2020 while wearing AirPods Pro. The AirPods Pro were allegedly set at a low volume, but an Amber Alert sounded without warning and the high-pitched noise damaged B.G.'s eardrums.The lawsuit claims that the Amber Alert "tore apart" B.G.'s eardrum, damaged his cochlea, and caused injuries to his hearing. He has since suffered from bouts of dizziness, vertigo, tinnitus, and nausea, and there is permanent hearing loss in his right ear, requiring him to wear a hearing aid.

Woman using AirPods Pro

Woman using AirPods Pro (Image credit: Apple)

The lawsuit claims that Apple knowingly sold "defective" AirPods that would not properly consider the current volume of the earbuds when alerts or notifications came through.

As a direct and proximate result of each and all Defendants' negligence in designing, manufacturing, and marketing the defective AirPods, B.G. has suffered significant temporary and permanent, continuous injuries, pain and suffering, disability, and impairment. B.G. has suffered mental anguish, emotional trauma, physical harm, injuries, disability, and impairment in the past and that will continue into the future. B.G. has lost his ability to live a normal life, and he will continue to live a diminished life into the future, including a diminished earning capacity. Furthermore, B.G. has medical bills both past and future related to care arising from and relating to the injuries suffered as a result of the defective AirPods.

While you can not currently set the volume for an Amber Alert, you can turn it off in the Settings app in certain countries.

Joe Wituschek
Contributor

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.