Parents sue Apple after son suffers hearing damage while wearing Air Pods during Amber Alert – New York Daily News

Reduce the volume.

Texas parents have filed a lawsuit against Apple after their son allegedly suffered hearing damage after an Amber Alert notification was broadcast through his Air Pod wireless headphones.

According to the complaint filed on Monday, the then 12-year-old boy’s eardrum was torn in the 2020 incident. The boy, now 14 and identified in the suit as BG, was watching Netflix on his iPhone and wearing a pair of AirPods Pro at “low volume” when the Amber Alert occurred.

Amber Alert notifications are played louder in order to attract more attention and this one reportedly “tore BG’s eardrum, damaged his cochlea and caused significant injury to BG’s hearing”. The boy would need to wear a hearing aid for the rest of his life and experienced other symptoms, including dizziness, vertigo, tinnitus and nausea.

“AirPods do not automatically reduce, control, limit, or increase notification or alert volumes to a safe level that causes them to sound,” according to the suit.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple was aware of the problem and was negligent in offering no solution. However, depending on the country an iPhone user is in, Amber Alerts and other emergency notifications can be completely disabled by changing phone settings.

Among the other evidence presented by the prosecution? Online reviews.

“Please fix this. I literally threw my AirPods across the room when I received a high pitched text alert while listening to peaceful music. Not cool,” it read.

The lawsuit was filed by San Antonio couple Carlos Gordoa and Ariani Reyes.