Family claim Amber Alert ruptured son's eardrums, file lawsuit against Apple

[LaraKnowles]

https://globalnews.ca/news/8851556/apple-lawsuit-amber-alert-hearing-damage/

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/44560022/Gordoa_et_al_v_Apple,_Inc_et_al

I did some Googling, and the maximum output physically possible for Airpods is 100-105 decibels when in the ear. So if they're playing a sound at maximum volume, the maximum decibels their eardrums could be exposed to is 100-105 decibels. Apparently, the family waited two years before filing the lawsuit, but I can't find a source for this as of now, it was a comment made on Reddit.

Is 100-105 decibels enough to instantly rupture a person's eardrum and immediately cause permanent hearing damage as the family claims?

[swansont]

These are government alerts; I know that the monthly testing of the emergency broadcast system on my TV is rather loud, so it may be that the government dictates this. Amber alerts go to Android phones, too.

You can turn these alerts off, which I’m sure that Apple will point out. And likely have medical testimony about whether the alert can do this. But Apple has the big bucks, so they’re a target for lawsuits.

 

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, LaraKnowles said:

https://globalnews.ca/news/8851556/apple-lawsuit-amber-alert-hearing-damage/

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/44560022/Gordoa_et_al_v_Apple,_Inc_et_al

I did some Googling, and the maximum output physically possible for Airpods is 100-105 decibels when in the ear. So if they're playing a sound at maximum volume, the maximum decibels their eardrums could be exposed to is 100-105 decibels. Apparently, the family waited two years before filing the lawsuit, but I can't find a source for this as of now, it was a comment made on Reddit.

Is 100-105 decibels enough to instantly rupture a person's eardrum and immediately cause permanent hearing damage as the family claims?

No. 

[StringJunky]

165dB seems to be the starting point. 115-120db is where it will probably start hurting

[LaraKnowles]

22 hours ago, StringJunky said:

165dB seems to be the starting point. 115-120db is where it will probably start hurting

Would the sudden ness of the sound matter? I remember reading on Reddit that sudden sounds are more dangerous for some reason.

[StringJunky]

23 minutes ago, LaraKnowles said:

Would the sudden ness of the sound matter? I remember reading on Reddit that sudden sounds are more dangerous for some reason.

A sudden sharp transient would be harder on the ear drum, I would have thought.... like a shotgun.

[LaraKnowles]

According to this, sound intensities starting from 150 decibels can cause eardrum rupture:

https://www.chem.purdue.edu/chemsafety/Training/PPETrain/dblevels.htm

Also found another article on the lawsuit which provides photos and a video:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10830803/Boy-suffered-ruptured-ear-drum-hearing-loss-Apple-AirPods-blared-Amber-Alert.html 

[TheVat]

The stapedius muscle, which regulates sound intensity in your ear, cannot react swiftly enough to a sudden pecussive noise.  IIRC, if the sound is continuous, the stapedius has time to react and the ability to diminish the sound up to a hundred-fold.  So it can drop a 100 db sound to 80 db, the scale being logarithmic.  

That's why I don't use earplugs for the vac, but do use them when pounding in nails.  

Edited May 7 by TheVat

[LaraKnowles]

Asked my friend, who is an audiologist, what she thinks of this case. She messaged me back with this

"This is nonsense and reeks of a hoax. The SPL required to shatter an eardrum is around 160 dB, which is equivalent to the SPL of a gunshot fired close to you. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/when-using-headphones-to-listen-to-music-how-loud-it-too-loud-for-kids/ mentions that the top volume level on Apple music players is 102 dB. The volume required to cause rupture of an eardrum is almost 10,000,000,000 times louder. The photos could be of somebody else's child, or a routine hearing test. There's not a single case in the literature of eardrum ruptures happening at only 102 dB. There's no reason that Amber Alerts would be any more damaging than any other similarly loud noise. This is like claiming that a bb gun pellet tore your arm off."

[LaraKnowles]

Seems like it would be fairly easy to prove or disprove the teenager's claim.

Get a sound level meter, and put it right up against an Airpod playing on max volume. If it's 160 dB (the sound intensity required to rupture eardrums) or close, then the teenager's claim is plausible. If it's nowhere near 160 dB, then the teenager is lying about the cause, if an ear injury ever occurred at all.

Unfortunately, I have neither a sound level meter or Airpods.

[LaraKnowles]

Based on this it seems like the teenager is lying. https://headphonesaddict.com/how-loud-are-apple-airpods/ they even used human shaped dummy ears in the test.