A Texas couple is blaming their 12-year-old son's "permanent hearing loss" on Apple, and on Monday they sued. Carlos Gordoa and Ariani Reyes of San Antonio allege their now-14-year-old, identified as BG, was watching Netflix on his iPhone using his AirPods Pro in 2020 when an Amber Alert came through the phone. Though the suit contends he was watching Netflix at a "low volume," they allege the Amber Alert came through at full blast "without warning, at a volume that tore apart BG's ear drum, damaged his cochlea, and caused significant injuries to BG's hearing" in his right ear, reports NBC News.
BG will need a hearing aid "for the rest of his life," per the suit, which says he suffers dizziness, vertigo, nausea, and tinnitus, as well as "disabilities leading to the loss of the pleasures of life." It continues, "The AirPods do not automatically reduce, control, limit, or increment notification or alert volumes to a safe level that causes them to emit," and the suit claims the product doesn't come with a warning that alerts could sound at a volume that could cause damage. The parents contend there are not adequate directions provided related to adjusting the alert volume. The New York Daily News notes that "depending on what country an iPhone user is in, Amber Alerts and other emergency notifications can be turned off completely by changing the phone's settings." (More Apple stories.)
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