Dyson is betting you’ll want to strap an air purifier to your face

There is air. You love it, I love it. We walk around in it all day, filling our lungs and blood with the stuff. We can't get enough of it. Sometimes that wonderful, life-saving air that you, me and your pet chinchilla all need is bad. That is correct. Sometimes the air we rely on is filled with bad things. Things that would love to fly into your nose and wreak havoc on your soft, protected insides.

Air purifiers have seen a huge increase in sales over the past two years. Many people have installed filters in their homes and offices because of the Pandemic and California wildfires. All the time, the engineers at Dyson have been asking themselves, what if we could stick the purifier on people's faces? Maybe it's not the most out-there question in a world where mask wearing has become the status quo.

Maybe.

The image is from Dyson.

The Dyson Zone is very large. It has many of the hallmarks of Dyson's much-loved product design, with the decided (and not insignificant) difference that it is designed to be strapped onto the wearer's face. I suppose, strapped to a pair of headphones and worn in front of their mouth. The basic form factor is very similar to a football helmet.

The company says the final product arrives after 500 prototypes. Says Dyson.

Originally a snorkel-like clean air mouthpiece paired with a backpack to hold the motor and inner workings, the Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones evolved dramatically over its six years in development. More than 500 prototypes saw one motor initially placed at the nape become two compressors, one in each ear-cup and the evolution of the snorkel mouthpiece into an effective, contact-free visor that delivers clean air without full-face contact – a brand-new clean air delivery mechanism.

The image is from Dyson.

The visor shoots a pair of air streams at the user's mouth and nose without coming in contact with the face. It is designed to remove pollutants and other particulates. Dyson isn't making any claims about the Zone's ability to prevent COVID. The product comes with an attachment that allows a user to wear a face covering. The front piece of the headphones has four settings for air purification.

I want to know how much this thing is going to cost, so it's too bad that it's not yet available. At some point this fall, it will arrive in select markets. There will be more information in the coming months.