Family sues Apple after AirPods supposedly damaged son's ears

A Texas family has filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging their son suffered permanent ear damage from AirPods after an Amber Alert was issued.

In the documents obtained by Reuters, parents Carlos Gordoa and Ariani Reyes claim their 12-year-old son, referred to as B.G., was wearing AirPods while watching a Netflix show in May 2020 when an Amber Alert occurred and automatically raised the phone's volume as high as possible without warning.

The family claims their son was watching the show at a low volume before the Amber Alert.

The loud sound "tore apart B.G.'s eardrum damaged his cochlea, and caused significant injuries to B.G.’s hearing" resulting in "sudden and permanent hearing loss in his right ear" and "bouts of dizziness, vertigo, and nausea."

According to the documents, B.G., now 14-years-old, will have to wear a hearing aid for the rest of his life.

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The San Antonio family is accusing Apple of gross negligence, strict liability, and fraud for failing to issue a warning that the device would automatically turn up the volume as high as possible regardless of a user's set volume.

They say that Apple's negligence was failing to "design the AirPods in a manner which would automatically reduce or limit notification or alert volumes to a safe level."

The documents include examples of similar complaints other customers made in an online Apple forum, describing the sudden volume increase as 'startling'.

Gordoa and Reyes are alleging that Apple knew about the complaints of loud alerts and chose not to fix it.

Last year, Apple paid millions of dollars in compensation to a woman who said a repair technician posted her nude photos.

Indy100 has reached out to Apple for comment.

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