A 12-year-old in the United States is said to have ruptured his eardrum after using his AirPods Pro. The boy therefore apparently needs a hearing aid – and Apple is now supposed to make up for this with a compensation payment if his parents have their way.
The case is said to have happened in 2020. At that time, the allegedly injured person is said to have streamed a film on Netflix on his iPhone and used his AirPods Pro for it. It wasn’t that the boy turned up the volume too much. Supposedly he had even chosen a low setting. But then a warning announcement was played extremely loud and shrill, causing his eardrum to burst.
AirPods Pro hearing damage lawsuit
The boy’s parents have now filed a lawsuit. Her accusation: He was sold defective AirPods Pro with volume control that didn’t work. Her son was frightened by the extremely loud warning message. Worse still, it caused serious injury to his ear, resulting in permanent hearing loss.
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“This boy’s life has changed drastically because Apple didn’t issue a warning about the volume of his AirPods,” the attorney responsible for the case said in a recent press release. It is not yet known what specific amount the claim for damages should cover.
Volume of the warning announcement – a known problem?
The warning announcements mentioned, so-called “Amber Alerts”, are part of a system used in the USA since the 1990s to forward missing persons reports. She was introduced in response to Amber Hagerman’s child abduction, hence her name.
According to the lawsuit, Apple is already aware of problems with incorrect volume adjustment on their AirPods. And indeed: years ago, users who claim to have had a similar experience spoke up on Reddit. “The alarm sound comes through the headphones MUCH louder than I would have guessed at the maximum possible volume,” reports one of them, “regardless of what volume is set to.” This is confirmed numerously in the comments.