Sound science: Dyson’s high fidelity, active noise cancelling headphones with air purification set for sale from January

Dyson has announced the full specification of the Dyson Zone™ headphones, which go on-sale from January in China and March in the US, UK, Hong Kong SAR and Singapore. Announced earlier this year, the Dyson Zone™ headphones provide a pure, immersive listening experience and on-the-go air purification when you need it. Following five years of research and development, the headphones deliver up to 50 hours of ultra-low distortion¹, advanced noise cancellation and faithful, full-spectrum audio reproduction. The Dyson Zone™ also captures 99% of particle pollution as small as 0.1 microns², whilst K-Carbon, potassium-enriched carbon filters target prevalent acidic gases most associated with city pollution, including NO₂ and SO₂. 

More than half of the global population lives in cities. This is expected to reach 7 in 10 by 2050³. As urban populations grow, so does associated infrastructure – transport, construction, traffic – all of which impact the environment in which we live, polluting the air and generating noise.

· An estimated 90 per cent of New York City mass transit users are exposed to levels exceeding the recommended decibel limit⁴. In the EU, noise pollution affects 1 in 5 citizens⁵.

· Air pollution is also a global problem. 99% of the world’s population live in areas that exceed the World Health Organization (WHO) safe levels for pollution⁶.

· In many geographies, local man-made pollution isn’t the biggest threat – in Europe, West Asia and Africa, the primary source of air pollution according to the United Nations Environment Programme is windborne dust⁷. 

The product has also been engineered to deliver high fidelity, immersive audio with ultra-low distortion and a broad frequency range for clarity across bass, mids and highs. The Dyson Zone™ incorporates an additional microphone for telephony, allowing phone calls, voice recording and voice control. The telephony microphone combines with the feed forward ANC microphone to provide dual microphone beamforming. Beamforming creates greater clarity of voice transmission by combining the signals from each microphone in a way that allows the system to reject noise from behind and to the sides of the wearer.

The Dyson Zone headphones deliver an exceptional immersive listening experience. Many audio developers rely on a golden listener; this has become common practice across the audio industry, where a trained individual determines what ‘good’ sounds like. Dyson engineers opted to take a more scientific approach, led by audio research and validating the resulting specification targets with extensive user trialling.

· Engineered for ultra-low distortion: The speaker driver and electronics, mechanical system, materials, and acoustics have been carefully designed to minimise distortion. The driver output is further equalised by intelligent signal processing 48,000 times a second which combines with the noise cancellation to neutralise harmonic distortion to inaudible levels across the full frequency range (0.08% @ 94 dB @1 kHz).

· Advanced noise cancelling: 11 microphones feature within the product. The Dyson Zone ANC system uses eight microphones which monitor surrounding noise 384,000 times a second. The Dyson Zone offers up to 38 dB of noise cancellation from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.

· Faithful, full-spectrum audio: The Dyson Zone goes beyond the audible to reproduce frequencies from 6 Hz – 21 kHz, ensuring every note or word is heard. It is more difficult for audio reproduction to be accurate at the extremes of the speaker’s frequency range, so by going beyond human hearing, the Dyson Zone achieves greater clarity across the audible portion of the spectrum. Such a broad frequency range is down to the electroacoustic engineering system engineering and base components: 40mm, 16 ohm, neodymium speaker drivers sit at the heart of the audio system.

· Scientifically tuned to hear more detail: Driven by scientific metrics and validated by broad user trialling, Dyson engineers identified the specification that gives the most clarity and detail across the full audio spectrum. Dyson has created a unique EQ setting that optimises the frequency curve for clear, pure audio across the full audible frequency range, to deliver a high-fidelity audio experience.

· Immersive listening in complete comfort: No two heads are the same and this variation impacts many elements of comfort as well as audio performance, including the clamp force of the headband, the geometry and materials of the detachable visor, the adjustability of the product and much more. The ear cushions are purposefully flatter than conventional ear cushions for both passive attenuation and comfort, and the cushions are angled to align with the ear for optimal comfort. 

Across the world, an average of 190 million people travel on the subway – exposing passengers to a mixture of pollutants such as particulate matter (PM2.5 & PM10), which in some cities it can reach higher levels than at street level.

Tackling city air pollution is a specific job, be that when you commute to work, travel abroad or traverse the city in which you live. The filtration system and air delivery mechanism in the Dyson Zone™ are engineered specifically to tackle such tasks. Precision-engineered compressors, spinning at up to 9,750 rpm, draw air through the dual-layer filters. The negatively charged electrostatic filter media captures ultrafine particles such as allergens, and particles from sources such as brake dust, industry combustion and construction, to an efficiency of 99% for particles as small as 0.1 microns². These particles are of most concern to health bodies, and investment in researching their long-term impact on health continues. A second layer, K-Carbon, is a potassium-enriched carbon layer which specifically captures city gas pollutants like NO₂, SO₂ and O₃, as well as nasty city odors, like construction fumes, sewage or stale air in metro systems, for example. Filters will last up to 12 months, depending on geographical location. 

The Dyson Zone™ headphones have been engineered by teams across the UK, Singapore, Malaysia and China, with a particular focus on software on our South-East Asia campuses. The app development and integration was a critical project to ensure a smooth connection journey and provide intelligent, meaningful air and noise pollution tracking features. As with all Dyson machines, the Dyson Zone™ noise-cancelling headphones with air purification have been tested to the extremes – in temperature-controlled chambers, drop-testing, material and fabric wear testing, button robustness and much more. Our expert test engineers in the Dyson Malaysia Development Centre are integral to this, as is the geography – putting it through its paces in warmer climates and higher humidity in addition to UK-based testing. User trials have been conducted in the US, UK, China and Singapore.

The Dyson Zone™ will be available for pre-order by appointment only in the US beginning in March. Shortly after it will become available to purchase online at Dyson.com and instore at Dyson Demo stores with pricing starting from $949 USD. Sign up for updates here.