Coronavirus culture entered a new age of chic this week with British tech firm Dyson announcing it will soon be selling a set of noise-canceling, air-purifying headphones in March of next year.
Unveiled in earlier 2022, the headphones were originally set to go on sale in autumn of this year but were subsequently delayed into March of next year. Prices will be starting at $913 USD.
“The headphones come with active noise cancellation to cut out noise around the wearer, and a detachable visor that pumps out filtered air,” reported the Daily Mail. “The visor sits over the wearer’s nose and mouth and pumps out filtered air to help cut exposure to air pollution.”
The Dyson Zone headphones will first be available for sale in China (where coronavirus restrictions continue) come January 2023 and will then be sold in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, and Singapore in March.
Dyson reportedly created the headphones in response to data that showed “one in five people in the EU are affected by noise pollution” while “99 percent of the world’s population live in areas that exceed the World Health Organisation’s safe levels for pollution.”
With filtration systems that capture 99 percent of particles, including bacteria and viruses, the headphones represent a new age in portable mask breathing, complete with compressors that propel streams of purified air into a person’s mouth and nose. Unlike a traditional face mask, the visor does not touch the wearer’s mouth. In a statement, Dyson said the headphones’ shape and design were to reflect that of a “horse saddle” through the distribution of weight over the sides of the head.
“A saddle typically curves over the horse’s spine distributing the load through contact with the areas left and right of the backbone – a format used for the central cushion on the headband,” Dyson said.
Chief engineer Jake Dyson likewise said earlier this year that the headphones “purifies the air you breathe on the move.”
“Unlike face masks, it delivers a plume of fresh air without touching your face, using high-performance filters and two miniaturized air pumps,” said Jake Dyson.