The family of a 12-year-old boy is suing Apple after he allegedly has suffered permanent hearing loss from an ‘Amber Alert’ on wireless AirPod earbuds.
In the lawsuit filed Monday, parents Carlos Gordoa and Ariani Reyes and their son, identified as B.G., said the AirPods were defective because they play alerts at dangerous volumes, regardless of the volume set by the user.
They have accused the company of gross negligence and fraud.
According to the lawsuit, the injury happened in May 2020, while B.G., then 12, was watching Netflix on his iPhone while wearing an AirPod connected to the phone in his right ear.
An’ Amber Alert’ produced an “ear-shattering” sound level that ruptured B.G’s eardrum and damaged his inner ear, the family claim.
A lawyer for the family said the boy’s life had been ‘severely altered’ as a result of the incident.
As a result, B.G. has permanent hearing loss and tinnitus, suffers from dizziness and needs to wear a hearing aid, the lawsuit said.
The family claimed Apple was aware that its AirPods played extremely loud alerts from online complaints going back to 2019 from users who noted that AirPods did not adjust the alert volume to match that of the media they were playing.