Jake Dyson revealed the Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones today, marking the company’s first foray into wearable technology. The Dyson Zone is a pair of noise-canceling, high-fidelity over-ear headphones that provide immersive sound to the ears while also delivering purified airflow to the nose and mouth. The Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones are the culmination of more than a decade of air quality research and development. They address both urban air quality and noise pollution issues simultaneously.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 9 in 10 people worldwide breathe air that exceeds WHO guideline pollution limits. Where NO2 pollution levels in cities reduced during the Covid-19 pandemic, they swiftly rebounded to pre-pandemic levels or exceeded them in a number of worldwide cities. Over 100 million people, or roughly 20% of the European population, are expected to be exposed to long-term noise levels that exceed WHO guidelines.
6 years & 500 prototypes
Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones are the result of Dyson’s 30-year expertise in airflow, filtration, and motor technologies, as well as a thorough study of indoor and outdoor air quality. Compressors in each earcup take air through dual-layer filters and direct it through the non-contact visor to the wearer’s nose and mouth. The visor’s sculpted returns keep purified airflow close to the nose and mouth and are diluted as little as possible by external crosswinds. The Dyson Zone provides rich, immersive audio and isolation from undesired city noise via advanced active noise cancellation (ANC), low distortion, and a neutral frequency response that properly reproduces music or audio as the developer intended.
Initially conceived as a snorkel-style clean air mouthpiece coupled with a backpack to house the engine and internal components, the Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones have developed considerably over the course of their six-year development. Over 500 prototypes witnessed the evolution of the snorkel mouthpiece into an effective, contact-free visor that distributes clean air without full-face contact — a novel method of delivering clean air.
Dyson engineers knew they needed to develop a non-contact solution to prevent the discomfort and irritation frequently associated with full-contact alternatives. Thus, the visor was a vital component. Airflow paths and visor design play a critical role in delivering pure air. The visor and visor returns, in conjunction with the central mesh that diffuses the two airflow jets, guarantee that the cleansed air departing the filters is supplied effectively to the nose and mouth in crosswinds and for the wearer’s unique facial shape. Beyond conventional testing methods, Dyson engineers use a breathing manikin equipped with medical-grade artificial lungs and monitoring equipment that ‘inhales’ pollution in a controlled chamber, simulating human breathing patterns. They next assess the level of pollution in the nose and throat to estimate the efficacy of the filtering of particles that would otherwise end up in Frank’s artificial lung.
Within the earcups, precision-engineered compressors suck air through dual-layer filters that have been cleverly constructed to fit within the headphone’s severe space limits. The electrostatic filter media absorbs ultrafine particles such as allergens and particles from sources such as brake dust, industrial combustion, and construction, while a potassium-enriched carbon layer captures city gas pollutants such as NO2 and SO2. The compressor directs the purified air to the wearer’s nose and mouth via the contact-free visor, which is constructed with flexible returns to direct the purified air flow to the wearer’s nose and mouth.
A scientific approach
As their first effort into audio, Dyson engineers used a scientific method, eschewing the ‘golden listener’ approach taken by many others. Dyson’s audio engineers and acousticians set out to design superior audio using metrics and thorough listening trials. As a result, the audio is clear and rich, with sophisticated noise cancellation. Despite the limited area available in a wearable device, Dyson engineers created a high-performance neodymium electroacoustic technology into each earcup. A broad frequency response, accurate left-right balance, and distortion levels well below what the human ear can discern ensure a genuine reproduction of the musicians’ or composers’ intentions.
The developers devised an enhanced noise cancelling technology by resolving a challenge created by Dyson. The passive attenuation of the device and the ANC, with its unique array of microphones, work in concert to decrease unwanted environmental noise and motor tones, providing enhanced noise cancellation at home, work, and on the move. Large, angled ear cushions conform to the shape of the listener’s ear, with a foam density and headband clamp force optimised for comfort and noise suppression.
Engineered for comfort
Each head on the planet is distinct. As Dyson’s first wearable, engineers had to rethink their approach to comfort. Engineers used detailed research on head and face geometries to determine how the Dyson Zone air purifying headphones would fit and perform on various heads– determining the clamp force of the headband, the geometry and materials of the visor, and the machine’s adjustability, among other things.
Ear cushion development is critical for three reasons: comfort, on-head stability, and passive attenuation. While foam is an apparent option for ear cushions, Dyson engineers looked deep into the composition of several foams to determine the best ideal material based on density, compression rate, and spring-back rate – all of which affect how pressure is translated onto the head. When selecting the ideal foam for the ear and headband cushions, it was crucial to strike a balance between comfort, stability when moulded to the ear, and most importantly, acoustic advantage. Moulding around the ear expands the contact points, resulting in improved sealing – and preventing more urban noise from entering the ear. The cushion is designed to be flatter than standard ear cushions for increased attenuation and comfort, and the cushions are oriented to match the position of the ear on the head for best comfort.
A global effort
The Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones were developed by teams in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Malaysia, and China, with a special emphasis on software development on our South East Asia campuses. The creation and integration of the app was important to ensuring a seamless connecting process and providing clever, relevant features for tracking air and noise pollution. Robustness and durability are critical characteristics of a product that is worn outside the home. As is the case with all Dyson devices, the Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones have been subjected to rigorous testing – including temperature-controlled chambers, drop testing, material and fabric wear testing, and button robustness. Our skilled test engineers at the Dyson Malaysia Development Centre, as well as the geography, contribute to this by putting the vacuum cleaner through its paces in warmer weather and higher humidity than in the UK.
From Autumn 2022, the Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones will be available online at Dyson.ae and sa.Dyson.com, as well as in Dyson Demo Stores. Timings will change according on location. The complete product specification and availability information will be revealed in the following months.
