iPods Cause Hearing Loss, Says La. Man Suing Apple
SAN FRANCISCO – A Louisiana man claims in a lawsuit that Apple’s iPod music player can cause hearing loss in people who use the popular device.
Apple has sold more than 42 million iPods since 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 federal 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 Berman of Seattle. But that’s beside the point of the lawsuit, which takes issue with the potential the iPod ear buds have 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 than the others, 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.”