SINGAPORE: Global domestic appliance maker Dyson launched its first wearable device on Thursday (Dec 8), marking the brand’s first foray into the wearable technology and audio engineering markets.
Teams across Singapore, the UK, Malaysia and China helped to develop The Dyson Zone, a pair of noise-cancelling headphones attached to a contact-free, air-purifying detachable face visor, the Singapore-headquartered company said in its press release.
What does Dyson’s latest device claim to do?
The Dyson Zone, which took five years to develop, is designed to purify airflow to the nose and mouth, and cancel unwanted noise, tackling the dual challenges of urban noise and air pollution.
The headphones can last up to 50 hours on a full charge but when used in combination with the air-purifying feature, the run time goes down to four hours, Dyson said.
The device “captures 99 per cent of particle pollution as small as 0.1 microns”, while its carbon filters “target prevalent acidic gases most associated with city pollution, including nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide”.
“Air pollution is a global problem – it affects us everywhere we go. In our homes, at school, at work and as we travel, whether on foot, on a bike or by public or private transport,” Jake Dyson, the son of the firm’s founder James, said.
Dyson also cited a World Health Organisation (WHO) report that nine in 10 people globally breathe air that exceeds their guideline pollutant limits.
But according to American technology magazine WIRED, the product is not meant to be a replacement for a surgical face mask despite its air-purifying feature.
When the product was first announced in March, it spawned plenty of memes and invited ridicule.
Technology and gaming website TechAU then said it “may be the worst tech product of 2022”.
“When the resulting product makes you look weird when you wear it, any advantage of convergence is lost,” it added.
Pricing has yet to be disclosed, but multiple media reports stated on Thursday the Dyson Zone will start at US$949.
It will go on sale from January 2023 in China and March 2023 in the United States, UK, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Singapore will be the first country in Southeast Asia to receive the Dyson Zone.
