This isn’t about playing music too loudly. It’s about ripping the earphone out by its wire really fast. It violently sucks on your eardrum. If you’re thinking:

“Oh, so like, an eardrum rupture?”

… good guess, but no.

That’s unlikely.

This is a different injury:

It’s called “perilymph fistula,” and it’s a rip in the teal-colored ligament around the purple bone’s footplate:

Your ears don’t just hear. This injury can mess up your sense of balance, your orientation in 3D space, and even disturb your eyeball muscles, making the world look slanted. (Yes, eyes rely on inner ears.) It can give you hissing and whistling in your ears all the time, daily headaches from your brain fluid leaking, and even a bacterial infection in your brain. It’s insane.

It’s an injury few ear doctors understand. Some claim it doesn’t exist. (But others proved it does.) One of the biggest earphone manufacturers, Apple, knows about this injury. But Apple still sells the dangerous design (mostly because they own Beats by Dre). They don’t warn you about this at all.

Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple’s Chief Design Officer

Sir Ive recently said:

“If you genuinely have a concern for humanity, you will be preoccupied with trying to understand the implications — the consequences — of creating something that hasn’t existed before. I think it’s part of the culture at Apple to believe that there is a responsibility that doesn’t end when you ship a product.” As he speaks, his face rearranges itself into a troubled frown. “It keeps me awake.”

More people than Sir Ive will lose sleep. Some over corporate irresponsibility. Others from suffering from this injury. Apple’s other product designs are still insanely great, but this one must go.

The law will likely side with consumer safety, then this earphone design—ruled as dangerous—won’t be sold anymore. But you need a warning now.