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Is a sound level of 105 decibels for a few seconds enough to rupture a person's eardrum? (lemm.ee)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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In 2022, a Texas family filed a lawsuit against Apple for damaging their son's hearing after an Amber Alert went off while he was wearing Airpods. According to Google, the maximum volume of phone headphones is around 105 decibels. The family are claiming that the son now requires hearing aids after his eardrum ruptured.

Is this plausible?

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/noise-induced-hearing-loss

Apple did add the option to change the tone volume after this incident. So there must be something here. Also, it's unlikely that the volume was only 105 db. But from most medical sources, typically up to 110 db is acceptable and may only cause hearing loss after decades. A siren hits up to 120-130 db.

Punctured ear drums usually occur because of pressure differences and not just loud sounds, so there may be more here than just loudness as AirPods do change the pressure around the ear (the Pro's actually have an exhaust to alleviate the pressure build up from the sound and the seal around the ear).

Yeah, I'd say it's 100% plausible.