Crime Texas parents sue Apple alleging alert on AirPods caused son's hearing damage - Tim Cook busted out 12yo's sensitive membranes

Article (Archive)
A Texas couple sued Apple this week alleging that their 12-year-old son suffered "permanent hearing loss" when his AirPods emitted an alert so loud that it tore one of his eardrums.

The boy, now 14 and identified in the lawsuit as B.G., was using his AirPods Pro with his iPhone to watch Netflix in 2020 when an Amber Alert came through, said the suit, filed Monday by Carlos Gordoa and Ariani Reyes of San Antonio.

B.G. was watching Netflix on a "low volume," the suit said, and when the Amber Alert was issued, it "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."

B.G. will have to wear a hearing aid for the rest of his life, the suit said. He also suffered from dizziness, vertigo, nausea and tinnitus after the incident.

"The AirPods do not automatically reduce, control, limit, or increment notification or alert volumes to a safe level that causes them to emit," the suit said. It added that there are no directions to adjust the alert sound or warnings that the volume could be so loud that it would cause damage.

Gordoa and Reyes's lawsuit said Apple knew or should have known about the defect that caused the loud alerts but chose not to fix it.

The suit includes examples of customers complaining about the problem online, lamenting that there is no way to adjust alert volume. The suit said hundreds of people are seeking a solution on Apple's support website.

"Please fix this. I literally threw my AirPod across the room when I got a shrill text alert while listening to peaceful music. Not cool," one reads.

Apple representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

 

[Desu Mountain]

Imagine buying Apple products in Current Year.

 

[Nate Higgers]

You can literally turn off Amber Alerts and “Emergency Alert” notifications lmao. I got sick of getting a fucking EAS alert tone from the state of New Mexico every fucking 2 hours when the scamdemic started. I would get alerts consisting of “WARNING: THERE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY TWO (2) PEOPLE TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 IN RETARD COUNTY. PLEASE FOLLOW SHELTER-IN-PLACE GUIDELINES”

Or “VISIT NM.GOV TO GET INFORMATION ABOUT GAYJUICE INJECTIONS IN YOUR COUNTY”

Fuck that noise. Literally.

 

[The Last Stand]

Ironic that an AMBER Alert ended up endangering a child.

 

[SiccDicc]

I'm not sure if this is an Apple issue or not. Because if the government said the Amber Alert has to go at max volume - even overriding phone settings to do so - than they should be suing the government.

You can literally turn off Amber Alerts and “Emergency Alert” notifications lmao. I got sick of getting a fucking EAS alert tone from the state of New Mexico every fucking 2 hours when the scamdemic started. I would get alerts consisting of “WARNING: THERE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY TWO (2) PEOPLE TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19 IN RETARD COUNTY. PLEASE FOLLOW SHELTER-IN-PLACE GUIDELINES”

Or “VISIT NM.GOV TO GET INFORMATION ABOUT GAYJUICE INJECTIONS IN YOUR COUNTY”

Fuck that noise. Literally.

Now we're entering the territory of "Is that common knowledge?" Did the kid know he could do that? Would he have if he had known? People tout that it's important to have it on, hell every article of how to turn it off says "You should keep it on, but since you're an evil selfish prick here's how to disable it". Okay, maybe not that exact wording, but it's implied. Fact is something like that should have a warning when you start up your phone and it sure as fuck shouldn't be blaring at the level it does. I have my phone set to a pretty low volume and that thing just screeches at max without my permission.

Thank God I don't use earbuds, although I wonder what damage it'd do to my speakers...

 

[Breadbassket]

I'm not sure if this is an Apple issue or not. Because if the government said the Amber Alert has to go at max volume - even overriding phone settings to do so - than they should be suing the government.

Now we're entering the territory of "Is that common knowledge?" Did the kid know he could do that? Would he have if he had known? People tout that it's important to have it on, hell every article of how to turn it off says "You should keep it on, but since you're an evil selfish prick here's how to disable it". Okay, maybe not that exact wording, but it's implied. Fact is something like that should have a warning when you start up your phone and it sure as fuck shouldn't be blaring at the level it does. I have my phone set to a pretty low volume and that thing just screeches at max without my permission.

Thank God I don't use earbuds, although I wonder what damage it'd do to my speakers...

get an amber alert on a subwoofer and see what the results are

 

[SiccDicc]

get an amber alert on a subwoofer and see what the results are

Fuck, judging from my phone it'd probably blow a hole through the wall with a subwoofer.

 

[The Last Stand]

Now we're entering the territory of "Is that common knowledge?" Did the kid know he could do that? Would he have if he had known? People tout that it's important to have it on, hell every article of how to turn it off says "You should keep it on, but since you're an evil selfish prick here's how to disable it". Okay, maybe not that exact wording, but it's implied.

I doubt kids know what AMBER Alerts even ARE. But yes, they are unnecessarily loud. That isn't going to help find the kid faster.

 

[SiccDicc]

I doubt kids know what AMBER Alerts even ARE. But yes, they are unnecessarily loud. That isn't going to help find the kid faster.

And that's the issue I take with this. If the government is mandating it has to bypass volume settings than they should be suing the government because that would be why the kid's ears are gone.

Only issue is if it's discretionary or ministerial, I think. I don't really know that much about this, but if government action led to harm then it's worth a shot in my book.

 

[Exigent Circumcisions]

All the amber alert on the phone is going to do is alert the pedophile that it's time to ditch the body.

 

[The Last Stand]

And that's the issue I take with this. If the government is mandating it has to bypass volume settings than they should be suing the government because that would be why the kid's ears are gone.

Only issue is if it's discretionary or ministerial, I think. I don't really know that much about this, but if government action led to harm then it's worth a shot in my book.

I'd love for this to go into federal court.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

I always turn Amber Alerts off. If Amber wants me to save her, she needs to stop getting kidnapped 100 miles away from me. Also, she's a brat.

 

[veri]

of course the amber alerts gotta be loud. if i hear one of those shits go off i start looking for the child and apprehending the suspect this kid and his family clearly are very selfish. they should’ve started forming road blocks around the area instead of trying to sue apple. how about uou spend that time and money teaching your son not to be an spastic autist whenever he hears a loud noise. that’s not how the real world works kid. grow up.

 

[Drkinferno72]

Go Sony or go home

 

[Megaton Punch]

B.G. was watching Netflix on a "low volume," the suit said, and when the Amber Alert was issued, it "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."

I don't know if I believe this. A sound would have to be at least 165 dB to instantly rupture an eardrum. This is equivalent to having a gun go off right next to your ear. From what I can tell on the internet, airpods top out at 100-110 dB, which is still insanely, unnecessarily loud, but not loud enough to blow out your eardrum.

I think Little B.G. was shoving sticks in his ears and destroyed his ear drum and his parents immediately saw dollar signs. Apple will settle so they don't look like the bad guy, but this is a frivolous lawsuit.

 

[MagneticTowels]

Footage of the event