Assignment 7A: Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Tangles Earbuds

Opportunity:

Almost every college students knows the struggle of reaching into their backpack, and pulling out tangles earbuds.

• The who: College students
• The what: Have to always untangle their earbuds. 
• The why: The way earbuds are built. 

Testing the Who: 

It is not just college students that have this issue. I have seen adults using earbuds connected to laptop that also experience the issue. And vice versa, not all college students experience this problem. With the new invention of Airpods, it seems as though for a few there is a solution that rids of hassle to connecting audio to your phone. However, those with Airpods still need to connect to their laptops and tablets. 

Testing the what: 

Earbuds with wires usually always seem to give users an issue. This does not seem to be an issue with wireless and workout earbuds. The way the majority of earbuds are built make it a hassle to users.

Testing the why: 

Earbuds are made with long, skinny wires, that makes it easy for them to knot and become tangled. The way they are constructed causes them to get tangled up.

Interview 1:

My roommate told me of the last time she used her earbuds for her laptop, and that they were a tangled mess in her backpack. She explained that she never has an issue with earbuds when she is on her iPhone, because she uses her Airpods. However, she still needs to use normal earbuds for her laptop when she watches lectures and videos.

Interview 2:

This interview was conducted with an Airman in the AirForce. When I asked him about his last use of earbuds, the first thing he said was that they were tangled. He then went on to say that sometimes when he goes to workout his wireless earbuds are out of battery, and he has to use his apple earbuds. He says that it is annoying because they always get caught on equipment when he goes to workout. An additional note, sometimes the earbuds fall out easily.  

Interview 3:

Another student is a girl on my Big Idea Competition team that stated that every time she reaches into her bag or pocket, her earbuds always come out tangled. She explained that she always try to tie them in a way to prevent them from tangling, but they still come out tangled. She stated how if there was an invention to solve this issue, she would buy it. 

Interview 4:

One girl sitting next to me in the library pulled out her laptop, and then her earbuds. Just as I figured, there were knots all over them. I started a conversation with her, and she explained that she has to struggle with that each time she takes them out of her backpack. Her responses were pretty straightforward, but she essentially was very annoyed with having to spend about two minutes to untangle her headphones each time she wanted use them.

Interview 5:

Another student I spoke to was a good friend of mine, that constantly wears headphones as she walks to class for music and talking to her family. When I asked her about her day to day experience with her earbuds, she says that she usually does not have too many problems (since she is constantly using them), but every now and then she will find them tangled in her pockets. It annoys her, because it takes her time to untangle them each time she wants to properly use them. 

 Given your interviews, what do you know about the opportunity that you didn't know before? 

Each person has their own personal reason as to why earbuds can be annoying, however there is an underlying theme that untangling earbuds is frustrating and a waste of time. Even for people that workout, and may not have access to wireless earbuds, the wires are constantly getting caught on equipment. It also seemed as though people were eager for a solution. Being constantly frustrated resulted in them wanting a better day to deal with this day to day bug.