Technology company Dyson has announced that its Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones are set to go on sale, despite the product attracting widespread criticism when it was revealed earlier this year.

Named Dyson Zone, the device combines a set of noise-cancelling headphones with a detachable visor for filtering out air pollutants.

Dyson Zone uses air compression technology to suck in fresh air near the ear cups, which is funnelled through mesh carbon filters and pumped to the visor.

"The Dyson Zone headphones are engineered to tackle the dual challenges of city noise and air pollution," Dyson said.

"Following five years of research and development, the headphones deliver up to 50 hours of ultra-low distortion, advanced noise cancellation and faithful, full-spectrum audio reproduction," it added.

"The Dyson Zone also captures 99 per cent of particle pollution as small as 0.1 microns, whilst K-Carbon, potassium-enriched carbon filters target prevalent acidic gases most associated with city pollution, including nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide."

Originally set to be released in the autumn of 2022, the Dyson Zone will now go on sale in China in January and US, UK, Ireland, Hong Kong and Singapore in March.

When it was unveiled in March this year its unusual look was met with widespread scepticism.

British newspaper The Telegraph and gadget publication Wired called the product "bizarre".

Meanwhile, technology site Cnet called it "something you'd see in a dystopian sci-fi movie" and national newspaper The Guardian said it "is sure to draw quizzical looks."

According to the Singapore-based company Dyson, the prototype model has undergone extensive testing in Malaysia and the UK ahead of its launch.

The latest images released by Dyson show that the product will be available in three colour options including silver and blue, copper and blue and dark and light blue hues.

"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," Dyson said.

"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," the brand continued.

Dyson, which is best known for its vacuum cleaners, hand dryers and hair dryers, was founded by inventor James Dyson in 1993. The success of its line of products helped to make Dyson the richest man in the UK in 2020.

Dyson announced plans to make 15,000 ventilators for the NHS to use for coronavirus patients in March 2020 but the plans were scrapped after demand for the units proved lower than anticipated.

Earlier this year, the company revealed designs for home robot prototypes that can carry out domestic chores including cleaning, hoovering and tidying, which are not yet on sale.

The photography is courtesy of Dyson.

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