7A- Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Passengers on airplanes are unable to enjoy and use in-flight entertainment on board with Bluetooth devices due to the fact that planes are not compatible with Bluetooth yet.

The who: Passengers traveling on airplanes

The what: unable to take advantage of in-flight entertainment when passengers don’t use wired headphones

The why: Compatibility with Bluetooth devices and airplanes and public transit have not been done yet, it may affect the airplane signal or other signals when traveling.

Testing the who: People using public transportation could benefit from Bluetooth being more compatible with public spaces like subways, buses, trains

Testing the what: Do all people traveling experience this challenge? Do people feel that they are missing out by not having a wired headphone? Do people miss important information because they are listening to their phone when a loudspeaker is on?

Testing the why: Do they have wired or wireless connection? Would this improve traveling and become more efficient?

Interview 1

When interviewing Emily, she said that she purposely uses her cell phone on aircrafts to avoid dealing with the inflight entertainment screens. If there was some way of opting into the sound system on a train or bus telling you the next stop, that would be beneficial to her because she is anxious that she will miss her stop because she is so involved with her phone.

Interview 2

After interviewing Alex, I found that she also uses solely her phone on airplanes because she doesn’t know what to do when it doesn’t connect to her Airpods. She is very dependent on her Bluetooth connection now, more than she was in past years.

Interview 3

Hallie doesn’t have Airpods, so she never experiences this issue. She normally carries around wired headphones, so this problem doesn’t come up for her.

Interview 4

Nicole just recently purchased Airpods and has not been on a plane since her recent purchase. She always had wired headphones so doesn’t experience this issue. Now that she has Airpods, she will probably use them in the airport but still remember to bring a wired connection because she is so used to having them on her. She is not yet adapted to solely using Bluetooth connection.

Interview 5

Barbara does not own Airpods or a Bluetooth connection device. If she remembers headphones for the flight, she’ll bring them, if she forgets headphones then she’ll buy them on the plane. It does not matter to her much because she usually reads a magazine on the plane anyway. If she decides that she wants to watch something, she will figure it out then and there but does not think about it much for the future.

Summary 

When interviewing people with Airpods vs no Airpods their answers are very different. To people relying on Bluetooth it is frustrating to them, but people who are not reliant on Bluetooth, don’t think much into it. For years they have been surviving with wired headphones and have not switched over yet. I see that not all people have this issue, it is more the younger generation that struggles with this opposed to older people.