This project examines the barriers consumers face when attempting to repair personal electronics, with a specific focus on wireless Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) headphones. While these devices have become increasingly common, repair is often overlooked in favour of replacement due to psychological resistance, economic factors, and practical limitations. Through research into user attitudes and product architectures, this project identifies the main hurdles to repair, such as a lack of knowledge, intimidating product design, and insufficient support materials.

Based on these findings, this project proposes a solution that addresses the main challenges preventing user-led repair. The final concept introduces a diagnosis-to-repair system supported by an intuitive physical headphone design and an AI-powered digital assistant. The design focuses specifically on the four most common malfunction scenarios reported by users - cushion wear and tear, hinge breakage, charging issues, and audio malfunctions.

The experience is designed to lower the perceived complexity of diagnosis and repair by actively engaging users directly in the troubleshooting process. The proposed headphone design enables users to easily switch cables between ports, allowing them to quickly isolate issues without the need for tools or full disassembly. This encourages active learning through doing while keeping stress and confusion to a minimum. At the heart of the headphone concept is a tiered repair model - common, high-frequency issues, such as ear cushion replacement or battery swaps, are tool-free and quick, while higher-complexity tasks remain accessible with minimal guidance. The process is supported by a digital repair assistant, hosted on common messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, ensuring familiarity and universal accessibility to repair information when users need it the most. It guides users in identifying the problem, then adapts to their input and repair confidence level, modifying its instructions accordingly, while using helpful visuals, and offering alternative repair pathways- all in a single, accessible, and unified platform.

The result aims to support the broader goals of sustainability and circularity by making repair more approachable and attractive, reducing friction, and enabling users to make confident, informed decisions at the point of device failure. The end goal is to extend headphone lifespans and reduce electronic waste by re-framing headphone repair from a burden into an empowered, user-driven experience.