Dyson Zone headphones with ANC and air purification

Dyson is mainly concerned with vacuum cleaners such as the V15 Detect, but they release many more products such as the Dyson Airstrait hair straightener and Dyson air purifiers. Today, Dyson announces at its own Dyson Demo Store in Amsterdam the release of the striking Dyson Zone in the Netherlands, a striking high-fidelity, active noise-cancelling headset with air purification. This air purification consists of a kind of hood for your mouth that runs from ear to ear and is shown small below. For a clear image I refer you to this.

Dyson Zone features

• Fly around the world twice: the Dyson Zone noise canceling headphones offer users up to 50 hours [1] ultra-low distortion audio, advanced noise cancellation and faithful full spectrum audio reproduction.
• Advanced noise cancellation: 11 microphones in the product. The ANC system uses eight to reduce city noise by up to 38 dB. These microphones monitor environmental sounds 384,000 times per second.
• Faithful audio across the full spectrum: The Dyson Zone goes beyond the audible to reproduce frequencies from 6 Hz to 21 kHz, so every note or word is audible.
• Ultra-low distortion: the speaker driver and electronics, mechanical system, materials and acoustics have been carefully designed to minimize distortion. The driver’s output is further smoothed by intelligent signal processing 48,000 times per second, which, in combination with the noise cancellation, neutralizes harmonic distortion to inaudible levels across the entire frequency range (0.08% @ 94dB @1kHz).
• Scientifically tuned to hear more details: a unique EQ setting optimizes the frequency curve for clear, clean audio across the full audible frequency range.
• Highly efficient filtration to tackle contamination on the go: a removable visor projects purified air to the wearer’s nose and mouth.
• Electrostatic filters capture 99% of particulate pollution as small as 0.1 microns² on, while K-carbon, potassium-enriched carbon filters target the prevalent acid gases most associated with urban pollution.
• Beautiful listening, designed for comfort: By testing on different head sizes and geometries, the headphones achieve the same beautiful sound for everyone.
• Telephony: Dual microphone beamforming and noise cancellation technology enable clear voice calling, voice recording and voice control.

The two models and specifications can be found below.

Fashion model
Product name	Dyson Zone	Dyson Zone Absolute+
Price	€699	€749
Accessories	1x electrostatic filter	2x electrostatic filter
	Magnetic visor	Magnetic visor
	Visor cleaning brush	Visor cleaning brush
	USB-C charging cable	USB-C charging cable
	Visor cover	Visor cover
	Hard storage box	Explorer storage box
		Airplane adapter kit
		Soft case

The Dyson Zone headphones deliver a pure, beautiful listening experience and air purification on the go when you need it. After five years of research and development, the headphones deliver up to 50 hours of ultra-low distortion¹, advanced noise cancellation and full-spectrum audio fidelity. The Dyson Zone also captures 99% of particulate pollution as small as 0.1 microns² while K-Carbon, potassium-enriched carbon filters target the prevalent acid gases most associated with urban pollution, including NO₂ and SO₂.

The problem of urban pollution
More than half of the world’s population lives in cities. This is expected to reach 7 in 10 by 2050 (3). As urban populations grow, so does the associated infrastructure – transportation, construction, traffic – all of which impact the environment we live in, polluting the air and creating noise.
It is estimated that 90 percent of public transit users in New York City are exposed to levels that exceed the recommended decibel limit (4). In the EU, noise pollution affects 1 in 5 citizens (5).
Air pollution is also a global problem. 99% of the world’s population lives in areas that exceed safe pollution levels set by the World Health Organization (WHO) (6).
In many regions, local man-made pollution is not the biggest threat – in Europe, West Asia and Africa, airborne dust is the leading source of air pollution according to the United Nations Environment Program (7).

Dyson Zone solution
The Dyson Zone headphones are designed to tackle the dual challenges of city noise and air pollution. Powered by advanced lithium-ion batteries and charging via USB-C, the headphones offer 50 hours of audio-only runtime (1), or 4 hours of combined purification and audio runtime with a charge to 100% in 3 hours.
The Dyson Zone air purifying headphones are the result of Dyson’s 30 years of experience in airflow, filtration and motor technologies and in-depth knowledge of indoor and outdoor air quality. The compressors in each earcup draw air through the dual-layer filters and project two streams of purified air to the wearer’s nose and mouth, through the contactless removable visor. Electrostatic filters capture 99% of particulate pollution as small as 0.1 microns (2), while K-Carbon, potassium-enriched carbon filters target the prevalent acid gases most associated with urban pollution, including NO2 and SO2.
The product is also designed to deliver high-fidelity, immersive audio with ultra-low distortion and a wide frequency range for clarity across bass, mids and treble. The Dyson Zone includes an additional microphone for telephony, allowing for phone calls, voice recording and voice control. The telephony microphone is combined with the feed forward ANC microphone to provide dual microphone beamforming. Beamforming provides greater clarity of voice transmission by combining the signals from each microphone so that the system can suppress noise from the back and sides of the wearer.

Dyson’s approach to audio engineering
The Dyson Zone headphones provide an exceptional listening experience. Many audio developers rely on a ‘golden listener’, where a trained person determines what ‘good’ sounds. This has become a common practice in the audio industry. Dyson engineers took a more scientific approach, guided by audio research and validating the resulting specification targets with extensive user testing.

Sensor, connectivity and app
NO2 is one of the most common gaseous pollutants in cities, a byproduct of combustion, with sources including traffic and construction. In addition to other acidic gases such as SO2, the potassium-enriched carbon filters in the Dyson Zone specifically target these acidic gases to meet the challenges of city air. A built-in sensor monitors the air for NO2 levels and monitors them live via the MyDyson app, alongside real-time ambient noise levels. Like Dyson home air purifiers, the Dyson Zone provides actionable, understandable information about the user’s environment to help build healthier habits. A built-in accelerometer monitors user activity and appropriately adjusts purified airflow in automatic mode with the visor attached. Head detection puts the product in standby mode when not being worn, and folding down the removable visor activates conversation mode, which stops purification and pauses music, intelligently prolonging battery life optimized.
The MyDyson app can also be used to control the Dyson Zone, adjust airflow rate and noise cancellation mode and adjust audio equalization to your preference, choosing from three modes: Dyson EQ (amplified), Bass Boost (bassy) and Neutral (flatter response curve). In the MyDyson app you can opt in to the loudness limit in accordance with hearing health guidelines.

FOOTNOTES

1 Performance may vary based on environmental conditions and usage.

² Filter efficiency tested according to ISO 29463 adjusted at maximum flow setting by an independent third party laboratory. Recording speeds may vary depending on real-world use.

³ World Bank accessed Dec 2

⁴ We Forum accessed Dec 2

⁵ EEA Europe accessed Dec 2

⁶ WHO accessed Dec 2

⁷ UNEP accessed Dec 2