Dyson’s first wireless headphones come with a built-in air purifier

Dyson has unveiled a unique pair of headphones called the Zone, which comes with a built-in air purifier. This marks the company’s foray into the wearables segment, with the headphones offering support for noise cancellation.
Dyson’s goal here is to combat both air and noise pollution at the same time, thanks to the magnetic visor that covers half your face. The device makes use of the company’s exing air filtration technology to pull in polluted air through each earpiece through a pair of compressors. It is then circulated towards the visor and expelled out, creating, sort of, a pocket of air around the mouth. Similar to the Bubble-Head charm from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Unlike traditional face masks, the visor never makes contact with the wearer’s skin and can easily be clipped on or removed via magnetic attachments. With this design, Dyson intends to avoid the discomfort and irritation that is often associated with full-contact alternatives. There are hinges as well, allowing you to slide down the visor while interacting with others normally – akin to Optimus Prime from Transformers.

Dyson is also offering multiple settings for air filtration, letting you switch between heavy air expulsion for physical activities and light for leisure. To be specific, there are four modes – low, medium, high, and auto, all of which can be configured easily. The electrostatic filter is negatively charged, enabling it to capture ultrafine particles such as allergens, brake dust, industry combustion, and more, channelling purified air to the nose.

Development of the Dyson Zone began in 2016, where the designers swapped between various concepts including a protruding hose and an air tube for breathing. (Image credit: Dyson)
The company claims that the headphones can clear out up to 99 percent of pollutants, though the filters are not reusable and need to be swapped each year. Or every couple of months, depending on how bad the air pollution is in your city.
It is also worth mentioning that the Zone is aimed at filtering the air for breathing purposes, and is not a replacement for the N95 or surgical masks that are worn to combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus. However, there is a separate covering attachment included in the box that helps out filling in the gaps.

As for the headphones themselves, the earpiece comes equipped with neodymium drivers, that are backed up with extensive lening trials. Dyson wants to create sounds that offer a faithful representation of the musicians’ intentions. For this, they implemented a wide frequency response, precise right-left balance, and a level of dortion that is significantly below what can be heard the human ear.
Then there is noise cancellation, which has three levels of usage. The Isolation mode enables active ANC when the face visor is raised, while lowering it automatically changes settings to conversation mode. A transparency mode is included as well, which filters out important noises like car horns or any kind of alerts.

Dyson has not revealed any prices, weight or launch date for the Zone headphones, though it is confirmed that charging will be enabled through USB Type-C. It can also be connected to the Dyson phone app to adjust settings or to track the general air quality around you.