Apple wins appeal in iPod hearing loss suit

Apple recently won an appeal in a class-action lawsuit that sought to hold the company responsible for hearing loss caused by iPods. Reuters reports that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a prior district court’s rejection of the suit, ruling that the plaintiffs in the case failed to show that use of the iPod poses an unreasonable risk of noise-induced hearing loss. “The plaintiffs do not allege the iPods failed to do anything they were designed to do nor do they allege that they, or any others, have suffered or are substantially certain to suffer inevitable hearing loss or other injury from iPod use,” Senior Judge David Thompson wrote. “At most, the plaintiffs plead a potential risk of hearing loss not to themselves, but to other unidentified iPod users.” The plaintiffs were seeking monetary damages and a court order requiring Apple to improve safety disclosures and provide better headphones.