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And you are tinnitus free and free from hearing-loss?

I would be careful if I were you – it could be that you're one of those who will be fine, but it's difficult to know beforehand and when it's too late; well…

Why not get a pair of custom fitted ear plugs that dampens all the frequencies evenly? Definitely worth it to protect the ears from potential damage.
LOL If I was doing it now maybe plugs would make a difference but this started 25ish years ago.

If you're a 14 year old with a 100watt amp you dont think, hey could this damage my ears. You think, THAT DRUMMER WILL NOT BE LOUDER THAN ME 😂
 
to everyone saying that the airpods max dB shouldn't cause issues like others mentioned keep in mind it is a child that the incident happened to. Now of course it will be hard (I think) to prove that the child was already listening to the movie/show at an "appropriate" level, but a quick search lead me to this https://www.chla.org/blog/rehab-therapies-and-audiology/how-loud-too-loud.

Specifically "According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adults should not be exposed to sounds with a peak sound pressure level above 140 dB. For children, the level is reduced to 120 dB."

Not to mention like others have posted, everyone is different in regards to ear shape, ear canal, tolerances, there are a lot of variables, but I just wanted to bring the attention that "safe" for an adult and child are certainly different
Well since a Child's scream is on average 120 db, I pray they dont have a crying/screaming sibling who is also causing permanent damage to their hearing.
 
To burst an ear drum requires over 165db. I call absolute BS on this story. Parents just trying to make a buck.

The noise intensity to rupture an eardrum would have to be very loud, usually 165 decibels or more. This would correspond to the sound intensity of a gunshot at close range, fireworks or extremely loud music. Although the eardrum will heal, damage to the inner ear is often permeant.

I rolled my eyes after reading “he will continue to live a diminished life into the future, including a diminished earning capacity.” How exactly will hearing loss in his right ear lower his earning potential when he becomes an adult?
 
All these members quoting figures of approx 150 to 165 db required to burst ear drum are actually qutoing figures for adults. The CDC have done tests and the WHO (World Health Orginization) that say children should not be exposed to a peak sound pressure of 120db

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/toolkit/quiz-test.html scroll to the bottom of the page.

Question is, is 120db within the operating spec of air pods because if it is then an amber alert at full strength could damage a childs hearing.
 
What I hate is when one comes through and it BLASTS through the car stereo. I'm slightly surprised it hasn't caused an accident yet.
 
After looking into this, the WEA alert volume is set by the government, it is not a function of the device or the headphones. Unless they can prove the AirPods effectively did not work as intended, IE the AirPods ignored the WEA volume guidelines and caused the alert to be sent at a higher volume... This one is going to be tricky for the plaintiffs. I do feel badly for the kid, this is something that shouldn't happen but whose fault it is, is open to interpretation
 
After looking into this, the WEA alert volume is set by the government, it is not a function of the device or the headphones. Unless they can prove the AirPods effectively did not work as intended, IE the AirPods ignored the WEA volume guidelines and caused the alert to be sent at a higher volume... This one is going to be tricky for the plaintiffs. I do feel badly for the kid, this is something that shouldn't happen but whose fault it is, is open to interpretation
Well that's an interesting twist.
 
After looking into this, the WEA alert volume is set by the government, it is not a function of the device or the headphones. Unless they can prove the AirPods effectively did not work as intended, IE the AirPods ignored the WEA volume guidelines and caused the alert to be sent at a higher volume... This one is going to be tricky for the plaintiffs. I do feel badly for the kid, this is something that shouldn't happen but whose fault it is, is open to interpretation
Valid point. Thing is though, the airpods are simply incapable of generating enough airpressure to actually rupture an eardrum.
 
All these members quoting figures of approx 150 to 165 db required to burst ear drum are actually qutoing figures for adults. The CDC have done tests and the WHO (World Health Orginization) that say children should not be exposed to a peak sound pressure of 120db

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/toolkit/quiz-test.html scroll to the bottom of the page.

Question is, is 120db within the operating spec of air pods because if it is then an amber alert at full strength could damage a childs hearing.
They specifically claim that it ruptured the childs eardrum. That is a different claim from merely making a very loud noise (which, incidentally, isn’t good for anyones hearing).
 
Fixed in next firmware update. Ha!
Earbuds of any brand are a prime cause of creating impacted earwax that requires a trip to an ENT doctor to pick or suck it out.

If you care about the health of your ear canals and don’t fancy a trip to an otolaryngologist — don’t use earbuds of any brand.
Or just clean out your damn ears.... LoL... are you being serious?
 
To burst an ear drum requires over 165db. I call absolute BS on this story. Parents just trying to make a buck.

The noise intensity to rupture an eardrum would have to be very loud, usually 165 decibels or more. This would correspond to the sound intensity of a gunshot at close range, fireworks or extremely loud music. Although the eardrum will heal, damage to the inner ear is often permeant.
This should be the top comment.
 
Well since a Child's scream is on average 120 db, I pray they dont have a crying/screaming sibling who is also causing permanent damage to their hearing.
I don't know if "on average" is what I would use. 120dB is more on peak levels according to anything that I could find, here is a study for a pediatric facility in which the two highest were 114dB and 116dB. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30865703/

Remember sound level changes a lot based on distance, a child may scream at a peak of say 12dB (just because that is the number you gave) but even just 5ft away will be a less amount. https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/inverse-square-law-d_890.html In the example in the link above a rile was used and recorded at 134dB at 1.25ft, even just 5ft away it dropped to 122dB.

The earbud is directly in you ear so pretty much as close as sound can get along with the tip creating the seal. You can look up "amber alert airpod" and there are numerous complaints that the alerts are just too loud especially since you are already wearing earbuds why does the alert need to be so loud to begin with? I am not trying to prove that the Amber alert caused this child to have permanent issues in one ear that is the job of the lawyer and data. I imagine they would have audiology test results and whatever else. If anything comes out of this lawsuit, I hope it is the ability to turn down alerts not just "off" or "on" and no ability to adjust the volume, because sometimes the connected bluetooth device is airpods and sometimes your car
 
There is a reason…..
yes there is a reason for them to be loud, but the alerts are so much louder and I am assuming they are peak volume which is not needed. The alert system needs to be changed to be a different volume when connected to bluetooth devices for audio. I understand the phone being really loud because it may be in your pocket or across the room and wouldn't be as loud. When you are listening to your audio through car speakers, earbuds, headphones, etc. it is a piercing sound
 
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Sigh……..

The courts are going to throw this case out right away. Apple CANNOT change the volume of the Wireless Emergency Alert, that’s set up by the FCC which has minimum requirement for volume. Same applies for Emergency Alert System on TVs. (Hence cable boxes and most newer tvs disable the volume controls when EAS comes on)

If the parents wants to sue, they can sue FCC in federal court, and the can take the case to SCOTUS if they want.
I’m so glad there are so many lawyers here 🙄
 
Yikes. I've been using my airpods a decent amount lately. Just shut off all the emergency alerts.
 
One of the things I thought was interesting was the alert overriding Netflix playback that was running during this incidence. Does that happen always on a iPhone?
I don’t know, but as you know that media volume and notification volume are two independent volume settings. I believe the default for Amber alerts etc. is to play at max volume, period.
 
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We need to cure tinnitus, especially the kinds that are truly intrusive (I have three sounds but out of them just one is freaking me out large parts of the day).

Like I've said before I think it would be awesome if Apple could get involved in research for solving hearing issues and tinnitus – if nothing else to get more customers to be able to enjoy Apple Music more, which likely means they'll get more subscribers. :)
Yes. Hopefully it our lifetime. That’s be great. :)

The more I’ve opened up to others about tinnitus the more people that I find out that have it. There’s a number of people that actually have it really bad. People that I know very well. But they’re completely happy and live a good life. People like that help get me through. It’ll be ok. :)
 
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