dBud Sleep : A study of user needs and ergonomic shapes to design an earbud adapted for sleep

Abstract: This report presents a master’s thesis in Integrated Product Design at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, on behalf of the company Earlabs. The goal of the project was to create a pair of earbuds that facilitate the user’s sleep. The project included examining users’ needs to find out what features the product should contain, as well as creating a shape that is sufficiently ergonomic and comfortable to sleep with on the side. The visual result was conceptual and included a design proposal via renderings. In addition, a foundation for the decision making regarding what functions to include in the product based on user needs was included and presented through a priority list. The framework used in this project was an open and searching double diamond approach that was broken down into design phases within learning, asking, making, testing, evaluation and selection, concept development, and communicating. Methods such as literature studies, market research, interviews, a survey, and an ergonomic workshop were conducted, where all insights contributed to the final concept, dBud Sleep. The final concept was adapted to the ear and small enough to be comfortable for all persons in the focus group. In the presented priority list, the most desirable functions in the product were considered to be streaming, active noise canceling and timer.