Dyson headphones’ April Fools? Company says they’re real

Dyson, the company made famous for its bagless vacuum cleaners and pricey hair dryers, has revealed its new set of noise-cancelling headphones that come paired with a unique feature — air purifiers.

Called the Dyson Zone, the headphones purify airflow to the nose and mouth using carbon filters, for city fumes, and come equipped with electrostatic filters that can remove 99 per cent of particulates as small a 0.1 microns, the company says.

“Air pollution is a global problem — it affects us everywhere we go. In our homes, at school, at work and as we travel, whether on foot, on a bike or by public or private transport. The Dyson Zone purifies the air you breathe on the move,” Dyson chief engineer Jake Dyson said in a statement.

“And unlike face masks, it delivers a plume of fresh air without touching your face, using high-performance filters and two miniaturized air pumps. After six years in development, we’re excited to deliver pure air and pure audio, anywhere.”

The result of more than 500 prototypes, a visor attached to the headphones delivers clean air without coming into contact with the face, the company explains.

A news release from Dyson says this non-contact solution “was a must” for engineers in order to avoid the discomfort and irritation of full-contact alternatives.

The company did not say how much the headphones would retail for. Dyson says the headphones will be available in select markets online and in-store this fall.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Dyson confirmed it would produce thousands of ventilators amid a shortage in the U.K. and elsewhere.

In 2019, the company developed an air quality backpack as part of a study called Breathe London, during which children wore the backpack to monitor their exposure to pollution while travelling to and from school.

The backpacks were later used in cities around the world to study changes in pollution during pandemic-related lockdowns.