Dyson files patent for air

Sometimes you need to make sure the air you're breathing won't kill you, but you don't want to interrupt a podcast. It turns out Dyson might have a plan for this.

The company most famous for its line of vacuum cleaners filed a patent in the UK for over-the-ear headphones that double as a wearable air purifier, Bloomberg reported. The unveiling of the patent came more than two years after Bloomberg initially reported on the product's existence, but the actual patent is out for everyone to see now.

For those who don't feel like trawling through PDFs, it's basically a regular-looking pair of headphones with an attached face mask. Motors and fans work together to filter air as it comes in and deliver cleaner oxygen to the wearer. It may seem a bit unusual, but it makes some business sense.

Dyson already has a line of air purifiers that have fueled revenue growth, especially in China, where air quality has been a major concern for a long time.

There's also been an arguably unjustified face mask shortage in North America thanks to the recent coronavirus outbreak, if Dyson ever wants to bring the headphones to the U.S. (FYI: Air purifiers can be effective against the flu virus, but not the coronavirus.)

That said, there's no guarantee Dyson will even make and sell these headphones. Companies file patents for things they have no plans to actually develop all the time. As Bloomberg pointed out, the patent doesn't account for battery power, which is going to be a huge factor in a product that's supposed to deliver high-quality audio while also filtering oxygen.