If you've ever heard an Amber Alert go off on your phone, you know how loud they can be. The alert is designed to catch everyone's attention in the case of a missing or kidnapped child. By adding more eyes to the number seeking to find a missing youth, the odds of finding him/her before it is too late increases greatly.

Amber Alert heard through a pair of AirPods causes permanent hearing loss and damage

The bottom line is that the Amber Alert is loud; of this, almost everyone agrees. And this has led a family in USA to sue Apple when their 12-year-old son heard the blaring loud sound of an Amber Alert through the AirPods that he was wearing at the time. As a result, the 12-year old ruptured his eardrum. Listed in court documents by his initials of B.G., the 12-year-old was watching Netflix on his iPhone and using his AirPods to listen to the audio when the Amber Alert sounded.

Boy's eardrum was "torn apart" by the high-pitched sound, which also damaged his cochlea resulting in permanent hearing loss in one ear. Over the two years since the incident took place, the boy has had problems with vertigo, dizziness, tinnitus, and nausea.

The lawsuit attacks Apple for not warning users that there is the potential for hearing loss and ear damage when wearing a pair of AirPods. The suit also claims that Apple makes "defective" audio accessories that don't automatically lower the volume when an alert is being broadcast. AirPods users have previously posted on Reddit about the needle pinning volume that an Amber Alert can cause on a pair of AirPods.

How can I disable Amber Alerts from my iOS and Android phones

You should keep Amber Alerts enabled on your iPhone or Android device. To disable them on iOS, go to Settings > Notification and scroll to the bottom of the page where it says Government Alert. Toggle off Amber Alerts. On Android, go to Settings > "Apps & notifications" > "Wireless Emergency Alerts." Tap the blue button next to "Amber Alerts" to turn them off.

Perhaps you could disable the Amber Alerts when you plan on using the AirPods to listen to audio coming from your iPhone. Android users should do the same thing regardless of which earbuds they are using at the moment. I will be interesting to see whether the plaintiffs can put together a strong enough case to help make up for the difficult time that "B.G." has had to endure with his hearing ever since that ill-fated moment when he heard an Amber Alert and its loud-high-pitched wail come from his AirPod.