When we published this news back in March this year, the announcement caught everyone so off-guard - we even paused to check the date as we approached April Fool's Day. But Dyson is doubling down rather than backing down with new details now emerging.

With thirty years of filtration expertise, six years of research, and a reported five-hundred prototypes, what you see before you is a personal air purifier combined with active noise-cancelling headphones.

With air pollution being a real problem in many cities worldwide and a renewed global focus on air circulation and quality, mainly since the pandemic, Dyson's timing likely could not have been better for such a concept.

We now know that the Dyson Zone, at its core, is a pair of noise-cancelling over-ear headphones "delivering immersive, high-fidelity sound". There are eleven microphones, with 8 of them used to reduce surrounding noise (by as much as 38dB). It also comes with a Contact-free Visor, said to channel a continuous stream of purified air to your nose and mouth without touching your face. That clean air is passed through a 2-stage purification process that is said to be capable of filtering city fumes and pollutants. 

Battery life is being reported as 50 hours; however, with air purification turned on, this drops to a low 4 hours. Charging is via USB-C naturally and it takes 3 hours to fully recharge.

"A first foray into the world of audio, Dyson engineers took a scientific approach, choosing not to rely on a 'golden listener' approach that many others do," the company said.

"Dyson's team of audio engineers and acousticians sought to engineer excellent audio led by metrics, backed up with extensive listening trials. The result: pure, rich audio and advanced noise cancellation."

Were this story released on April 1, it would have been quickly dismissed after a quick chuckle. But Dyson is not joking, it seems. So watch this space as we can't wait to get ears, eyes, and nose on with Dyson's first audio device and wearable. Aussies will need to wait a while to know, though, with no release date yet announced for this region. China will be the first market to see it in January 2023, while the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore and the US are expected to see it from March 2023.