New York City’s air quality is currently among the most dangerous in the world, with smoke from Canadian wildfires sending orange haze across parks and skyscrapers. With a dreadful blanket of smoky air, I am glad to find a good use for the Dyson area.
The Dyson Zone air-purifying, noise-canceling headphones didn’t work great for me when I wore them on a recent cross-country flight. But outside, in an urban area that suffers from AQI of 342 (With anything over 150 considered unhealthy) At the time of writing, I couldn’t get the zone on my head fast enough.
When turned on, the Dyson Zone air filtration system feeds filtered air through a visor that is magnetically attached to the user’s nose and mouth. On my commute to work, that meant breathing better quality air than I would otherwise. Given the circumstances, I was grateful to have the device with me as part of the ongoing review process.
Now, I should point out that the The CDC recommends that people stay home When there is smoke in the air, because the ash can irritate your eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. But if you have to go outside in New York, or travel far from home before air quality deteriorates like I did, experts have advised people wear a mask.
The Dyson Zone is not equal to the KN95, as it does not claim to filter out airborne viruses. But they do offer some defense against air pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, thanks to an advanced air filtration system built into the earphones’ ear cups.
I’ve tested wildfires in the Dyson Zone, and nitrogen dioxide levels in densely populated Times Square never register much higher than in my office according to the information available in the companion app. In addition, the location-based air quality report said I had nothing to worry about.
But when stepping out into a New York City fume hood, the air quality around me registered roughly in the yellow or “fair” Dyson range, while the location-based information displayed a dark red banner, indicating “unhealthy” air quality for my area. Even before I attached my visor, the Dyson app gave me a much-needed warning about what I needed to be prepared for.
Are you protecting the Dyson area from wildfire smoke?
Dyson doesn’t say if the Zone headset offers any real, tested protection against air polluted by wildfire smoke, though the product promises to “capture particles as small as 0.1 microns, such as pollen and dust.”
My sister site is Tom’s Guide live science He directed me to this report from University of California, San Francisco Helps determine how to measure AQI in an area. One factor is the amount of PM2.5 (particles under 2.5 microns) in the air.
Theoretically, if particles from wildfire smoke are larger than 0.1 microns, the Dyson area should provide protection while air quality is poor. Here’s what David Hill, Dyson’s senior director of design, had to say when I reached out to Dyson for clarification:
“Wildfire smoke consists of a mixture of gaseous pollutants (such as carbon monoxide), hazardous air pollutants (such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), water vapor, and particulate pollution. Environmental Protection AgencyAnd Particulate pollution is a major component of wildfire smoke And the main threat to public health. The Dyson Zone has been tested to capture 99% of particles as small as 0.1 micron that pass through the filters.”
While the Dyson Zone is a very expensive method of filtering out airborne particles, it’s nice to know that it’s apparently doing its job in this miserable environment.
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