Apple sued for potential hearing loss

mzkhadir

Diamond Member
Mar 6, 2003
9,509
1
76
Apple Sued for Potential Hearing Loss

Man sues Apple over potential hearing loss

By DAN GOODIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Louisiana man claims in a lawsuit that Apple's iPod music player can cause hearing loss in people who use it.

Apple has sold more than 42 million of the devices since they went on sale in 2001, including 14 million in the fourth quarter last year. The devices can produce sounds of more than 115 decibels, a volume that can damage the hearing of a person exposed to the sound for more than 28 seconds per day, according to the complaint.

The iPod players are "inherently defective in design and are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss," according to the complaint, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., on behalf of John Kiel Patterson of Louisiana.

The suit, which Patterson wants certified as a class-action, seeks compensation for unspecified damages and upgrades that will make iPods safer. Patterson's suit said he bought an iPod last year, but does not specify whether he suffered hearing loss from the device.

Patterson does not know if the device has damaged his hearing, said his attorney, Steve W. Berman, of Seattle. But that's beside the point of the lawsuit, which takes issue with the potential the iPod has to cause irreparable hearing loss, Berman said.

"He's bought a product which is not safe to use as currently sold on the market," Berman said. "He's paying for a product that's defective, and the law is pretty clear that if someone sold you a defective product they have a duty to repair it."

An Apple Computer Inc. spokeswoman, Kristin Huguet, declined to comment.

Although the iPod is more popular than other types of portable music players, its ability to cause noise-induced hearing isn't any higher, experts said.

"We have numerous products in the marketplace that have the potential to damage hearing," said Deanna Meinke, an audiology professor at the University of Northern Colorado. "The risk is there but the risk lies with the user and where they set the volume."

The Cupertino-based company ships a warning with each iPod that cautions "permanent hearing loss may occur if earphones or headphones are used at high volume."

Apple was forced to pull the iPod from store shelves in France and upgrade software on the device to limit sound to 100 decibels, but has not followed suit in the United States, according to the complaint. The headphones commonly referred to as ear buds, which ship with the iPod, also contribute to noise-induced hearing loss because they do not dilute the sound entering the ear and are closer to the ear canal than other sound sources, the complaint states
 

BigJ

Lifer
Nov 18, 2001
21,330
1
81
Guy needs to be neutered. If he has any children, I'm sorry to say it, but we're going to have to neuter/spay them too.
 

Zanix

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2003
5,568
12
81
If the fvcking thing is so loud you can't hear other people talking to you...


You MAY get ear damage. :roll:
 

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
91
Originally posted by: Zanix
If the fvcking thing is so loud you can't hear other people talking to you...


You MAY get ear damage. :roll:

you know you're a redneck if??? hehe.

you may get hearing damage if.

you blow a fog horn in your ear.
you listen to your ipod at 95 dB.
 

mzkhadir

Diamond Member
Mar 6, 2003
9,509
1
76
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Zanix
If the fvcking thing is so loud you can't hear other people talking to you...


You MAY get ear damage. :roll:

you know you're a redneck if??? hehe.

you may get hearing damage if.

you blow a fog horn in your ear.
you listen to your ipod at 95 dB.

in the manual some where, it probably says please lower the volume on your ipod or else it will cause hearing loss
 

Zanix

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2003
5,568
12
81
Originally posted by: mzkhadir
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Zanix
If the fvcking thing is so loud you can't hear other people talking to you...


You MAY get ear damage. :roll:

you know you're a redneck if??? hehe.

you may get hearing damage if.

you blow a fog horn in your ear.
you listen to your ipod at 95 dB.

in the manual some where, it probably says please lower the volume on your ipod or else it will cause hearing loss

Annnnnnd the case gets thrown out!
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
Originally posted by: mzkhadir
Originally posted by: MIKEMIKE
Originally posted by: Zanix
If the fvcking thing is so loud you can't hear other people talking to you...


You MAY get ear damage. :roll:

you know you're a redneck if??? hehe.

you may get hearing damage if.

you blow a fog horn in your ear.
you listen to your ipod at 95 dB.

in the manual some where, it probably says please lower the volume on your ipod or else it will cause hearing loss

That would involve reading, though..
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,391
1,780
126
One thing you have to respect about the suit is that he's asking for it to be a class-action suit and that Apple send out a firmware fix of some sort. Even though it's a stupid lawsuit, this guy is onto something when it comes to the protection of kids that don't know about how damaging headphones can be to your hearing. I give this guy props for not claiming that he's deaf and wanting money for it.

Class-action suits may get him $.50, etc... It's a legit lawsuit.
 

Mermaidman

Diamond Member
Sep 4, 2003
7,987
93
91
How is the iPod any more potentially dangerous than any other sound-emitting appliance like TVs, stereos, computers? :confused:

Hang these opportunistic bastards.
 

Zanix

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2003
5,568
12
81
Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
One thing you have to respect about the suit is that he's asking for it to be a class-action suit and that Apple send out a firmware fix of some sort. Even though it's a stupid lawsuit, this guy is onto something when it comes to the protection of kids that don't know about how damaging headphones can be to your hearing. I give this guy props for not claiming that he's deaf and wanting money for it.

Class-action suits may get him $.50, etc... It's a legit lawsuit.

inherently defective in design and are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss,

It seems like all they'll do is put a "CAREFULL HOT!!" warning on the cups, instead of actually making a change. I mean, in McDonalds case vs that woman that burned herself.

It's weird, should the players be able to be turned up loud enough to cause damage? I guess that's relative. Some people already have damage, and are probably more comfortable with it louder than others.

Sicky wickets.
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
106
Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
One thing you have to respect about the suit is that he's asking for it to be a class-action suit and that Apple send out a firmware fix of some sort. Even though it's a stupid lawsuit, this guy is onto something when it comes to the protection of kids that don't know about how damaging headphones can be to your hearing. I give this guy props for not claiming that he's deaf and wanting money for it.

Class-action suits may get him $.50, etc... It's a legit lawsuit.

My factory truck stereo might be able to cause hearing loss as well..and my Z560s definitely could..

A firmware fix would limit volume, and people would complain about that too.
 

ryan256

Platinum Member
Jul 22, 2005
2,514
0
71
Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
Even though it's a stupid lawsuit, this guy is onto something when it comes to the protection of kids that don't know about how damaging headphones can be to your hearing.

Interesting... now where did I learn loud music could damage my hearing... ?? :confused: Oh yeah I remember now. I seem to remember having these things called parents who actually parented. They told me not to listen to my heaphones too loud because it would damage my hearing. And then when I did it anyways the headache I got confirmed this.
 

Platypus

Lifer
Apr 26, 2001
31,046
321
136
Personal responsibility? What's that? :roll:

I was waiting for this to break ever since the Townsend article.
 

nakedfrog

No Lifer
Apr 3, 2001
60,265
15,214
136
I remember the Sony Walkman my parents got me when I was a kid (around 1985/86) it had a red LED that would turn on whenever the volume went over a certain point.
 

Rubycon

Madame President
Aug 10, 2005
17,768
485
126
Oh this great.

Now all of us will be punished in the future with a firmware upgrade that will put some kind of limiting on the output crippling fidelity.

Let's face it. We live in a society where we must pay for all the misanthropic degenerates out there taking advantage of the system. From uninsured motorists to teen mothers with no health insurance. When does the insanity end?

There should be a jury trial for this guy and OJ should be on the panel, go insane and strangle this loser to death with some monster cable until his eyeballs pop out of their sockets.

:p
 

ManyBeers

Platinum Member
Aug 30, 2004
2,519
1
81
Originally posted by: mzkhadir
Apple Sued for Potential Hearing Loss

Man sues Apple over potential hearing loss

By DAN GOODIN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Louisiana man claims in a lawsuit that Apple's iPod music player can cause hearing loss in people who use it.

Apple has sold more than 42 million of the devices since they went on sale in 2001, including 14 million in the fourth quarter last year. The devices can produce sounds of more than 115 decibels, a volume that can damage the hearing of a person exposed to the sound for more than 28 seconds per day, according to the complaint.

The iPod players are "inherently defective in design and are not sufficiently adorned with adequate warnings regarding the likelihood of hearing loss," according to the complaint, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., on behalf of John Kiel Patterson of Louisiana.

The suit, which Patterson wants certified as a class-action, seeks compensation for unspecified damages and upgrades that will make iPods safer. Patterson's suit said he bought an iPod last year, but does not specify whether he suffered hearing loss from the device.

Patterson does not know if the device has damaged his hearing, said his attorney, Steve W. Berman, of Seattle. But that's beside the point of the lawsuit, which takes issue with the potential the iPod has to cause irreparable hearing loss, Berman said.

"He's bought a product which is not safe to use as currently sold on the market," Berman said. "He's paying for a product that's defective, and the law is pretty clear that if someone sold you a defective product they have a duty to repair it."

An Apple Computer Inc. spokeswoman, Kristin Huguet, declined to comment.

Although the iPod is more popular than other types of portable music players, its ability to cause noise-induced hearing isn't any higher, experts said.

"We have numerous products in the marketplace that have the potential to damage hearing," said Deanna Meinke, an audiology professor at the University of Northern Colorado. "The risk is there but the risk lies with the user and where they set the volume."

The Cupertino-based company ships a warning with each iPod that cautions "permanent hearing loss may occur if earphones or headphones are used at high volume."

Apple was forced to pull the iPod from store shelves in France and upgrade software on the device to limit sound to 100 decibels, but has not followed suit in the United States, according to the complaint. The headphones commonly referred to as ear buds, which ship with the iPod, also contribute to noise-induced hearing loss because they do not dilute the sound entering the ear and are closer to the ear canal than other sound sources, the complaint states


How could any court accept this as a legitimate complaint that requires court action?
I mean, WTF!!!