What’s an iconic brand that’s synonymous with vacuum cleaners, air purifiers and hair stylers doing in the audio segment? Dyson didn’t take a subtle approach when delivering its first foray into audio, and the world’s only active noise-canceling (ANC), air-purifying headphones. Called Dyson Zone, it has two parts. One is the headphone itself, with out of the world ANC. The second part is an air-purifying system that works best when a visor attaches via magnets. It’s up to you whether you want to use the visor or not.
Joe Staniforth, head of wearables category at Dyson, demonstrates airpurifying features on the Dyson Zone
Dyson Zone is a complex piece of technology that took the brand six years of research. It was first released in a few select markets and now it has been rolled out in India. Each of the ear cans hold a compact electrostatic filter that removes pollutants from the air. The air is then channeled through the visor to create a pocket of purified air. The unit pairs with the MyDyson app, where you can view the air quality and noise levels of your current environment.
To get an understanding of the product, we caught up with Joe Staniforth, head of wearables category at Dyson, in New Delhi, last week. He has spent time all over the world, thanks to Dyson taking him from one office to another. Everywhere he has faced a similar problem — sound and air pollution, though the degree varied. In hindsight, it’s not out of place to see Dyson come up with a headphone because the company has always worked with ways to deal with noise resulting from vacuum cleaners.
“We began six years ago. We’ve been working on what’s become Dyson Zone for a long time. At Dyson, there are problems to be solved. There’s noise pollution in our cities, which is a growing problem. As we construct more buildings, more roads, we’re creating noise. We’re also creating air pollution as well. And that’s become a global problem that we all need to look at. We have a lot of expertise in purification at home and we thought, maybe we can take that out of homes. How do we move it (the solution) with you? There was progression of bringing together expertise in audio. We’ve had audio analysts for a long time… vacuum cleaners got quieter, hair dryers got quieter. After all the analysis, those two things met in the middle. And then we started conceptualising as to what this could be. Why don’t we go generate audio as well? We can use active noise canceling to reduce the noise of mowers. And we can provide high-fidelity audio,” says Staniforth.
The earpads offer a good degree of comfort
Taking a different path
Prototypes are a part of Dyson culture and each of the company’s products has hundreds of prototypes. For Dyson Zone, there were over 500 prototypes. “It’s a real Dyson thing to have a prototype… try it, test it, and learn from both success and failure. How do people wear it comfortably? How does it offer a seal to the ears? How you remove the covers, the ear cushions… everything is prototyped either individually to a specific area, or where we sought to bring it all together to see how it fits,” says the engineer.
Another aspect Dyson had to keep an eye on is making the product environment-friendly, which is a cornerstone of the company. “If you are efficient, you’re reducing the material you use to do something. You’re reducing weights, the amount used, everything about it, you’re putting it together in the simplest, smartest way that is environment-friendly. And we’ve looked at where we can use materials that are recycled or recyclable. There’s also the responsibility to deal with end of life (aspect of a product) as well,” says Staniforth.
The carry case to carry the headphones around
At the moment, Staniforth is enjoying Blink-182 and Chemical Brothers on the Dyson Zone but over six years, a lot of hard work went into the product that combines two categories. He says, “You’ve got to be brave to jump into a new category. And that’s what makes me so proud and happy to work at Dyson. We’re brave to jump into something that is established. But that doesn’t mean we can’t lead. Not only did we factor in the experience we already have in audio, we hired the right people, we groomed the right people, we provided them labs globally, test equipment, test software, and we deconstructed the problem of generating and providing audio in a Dyson manner.”
The product comes in two variations (upwards of Rs 59,900) — Dyson Zone and Dyson Zone Absolute. One of the coolest features on the product is the level of noise cancellation. “There are 11 microphones because we have a different system; it’s something new to the market. We’ve got our own algorithms and our own approach to deal with active noise cancelling.”
And Staniforth makes it clear that you don’t have to attach the visor unless you want to tackle air pollution. “If you are a city commuter, you’re a person who’s experiencing noise pollution as well as air pollution everyday during commute or walks or lunchtime breaks. We added high-fidelity audio and that opens it up to anyone who wants to experience their own zone and listen to music in their own place. It’s broadened over time.”
Staniforth is also happy that he gets to work with Dyson founder James Dyson and his son, Jake. “James and Jake Dyson are both involved; that’s their passion, their love and that driver to come in there in the office a lot. And they review all our projects. I have the great ability to review these things with James and Jake on a regular basis. They have a phenomenal ability to deal with so many products; to have an overview of everything. We’ve been brave and different. And we’re always looking forward to new technologies, new research. I’m sure there are things in our office, in our research and development that will be 10 years ahead. That’s the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning.”
