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Dyson’s wacky headphones shove filtered air into your face

One YouTuber referred to Dyson’s new headphones as a ‘snot cannon.’

Dyson zone headphones on a mannekin
Image: Dyson

Dyson’s weird cyberpunk headphones are now a real product, that you’ll be able to buy later this year. The Dyson Zone features active noise-canceling (ANC) headphones, that also direct a filtered stream of air towards the user’s nose and mouth area.

Yeah, sounds weird right? That’s about par for Dyson, who never creates anything ‘normal.’ The whole concept is to combat pollution in urban areas, giving the user air free of particulates.

That’s done via a magnetically attached nose visor, that contains a miniature version of Dyson’s existing filtration tech.

The headphones also filter out sound pollution. Sensors tell you if you’re exposed to sounds that are too loud, then ANC cancels it out so your ears are protected.

READ MORE: Dyson is developing robots to do all of the chores you hate

The thing is, these headphones are working on outmoded assumptions about air quality and filtration.

Dyson acknowledges that “nothing about the air purification system [protects] against airborne viruses such as COVID.” However, the Zone’s air system is actively hazardous; according to Naomi Wu, hacker extraordinaire and China’s number 1 techtuber.

Her reasoning hinges on one thing. When Dyson first started working on the Zone, scientific thinking about airborne pathogens was wrong. Dead wrong, as the pandemic has shown.

That lead to Dyson creating a “snot cannon,” which will amplify the spread of diseases. The Dyson Zone takes in air from the headphone area, filters it, then blows it under pressure at the wearer’s nose/mouth region.

There’s no filtration for expelled air, and the pressurized air works like Dyson’s well-known hand driers to spread droplets everywhere the wearer goes.

The Dyson Zone is going to be released this fall. We don’t have pricing details at this time, but based on the potential public health issues, they’ll cost everything. If you see someone wearing one, move away, far, far away.

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Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere. His hobbies include photography, animation, and hoarding Reddit gold.

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