If your headphones also included an air-purifying facemask , would you still wear them?
Vacuum maker Dyson is betting that people will. They’ve just rolled out plans for a strange new pair of noise-canceling headphones that throw in a high-tech facemask for good measure.
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Dyson’s known as a vacuum brand.
Their products really suck (and that’s a good thing!). Dyson is well known in the vacuum space, and has branched out into air filtration and fans, so these weird headphones are kind of a logical next step.
The patent applications look strange.
You can view the filings here . The black-and-white drawings show what looks like a conventional pair of headphones, only it has a second headband at the front.
Here’s the side view.
This makes things a little bit clearer. Needless to say, the vertical headband here is just a regular old headband, but the horizontal ‘headband’ is the high-tech air purifying facemask thing.
Dyson’s been working on this for a long time.
On their website , Dyson shared images of the development of these earpieces. An early prototype from 2016 looks like it might work, but it also looks like something a helicopter pilot might have worn during the Korean War.
Development continued.
This progress pic shows how Dyson slowly refined the design over the years. First came the over-engineered headset, which was slimmed down. The mouthpiece morphed into a headband, then disappeared briefly, then came back. The final pic in the bottom right is essentially what the finished product looks like.
Here they are.
Known officially as the Dyson Zone , these headphones will be instantly identifiable because of the facemask attachment. Interestingly, this attachment actually rests in front of the face, not on the face, so it can’t be felt. It attaches magnetically, so removal is easy.
They’re designed to filter out up to 99% of particle pollution.
The filters will lose efficacy over time, so they’ll need to be replaced periodically. The headphones themselves look good, too, with active noise cancellation as a big feature.
We’ll see if these things catch on.
It’ll be interesting to see how consumers receive these strange headphones once they’re released. Will they become the next Beats, a ubiquitous fashion statement seen everywhere? Or will they go the way of those headphones that have FM radios built in? Only time will tell.
Let us know what you think of these headphones in the comments section.
