HAD this story emerged on Friday last week, rather than the previous day, I’d have dismissed it as April Fool’s jape.

But, no … the Dyson Zone – a fetching set of headphones that cunningly incorporate an air-purifying mouth visor – really are a thing.

Best known for their range of vacuum cleaners, this is Dyson’s first foray into wearable technology, having diversified in recent years with products such as fans and a hairdryer.

The headphones are designed to tackle the growing issue of air pollution and the contraption delivers purified air to the mouth and nose while simultaneously tackling noise pollution through its active noise cancelling technology.

Chief engineer Jake Dyson said: “Air pollution is a global problem – it affects us everywhere we go.”

Indeed … so wearing a hoover on your face makes perfect sense.

The National:

He continued: “The Dyson Zone purifies the air you breathe on the move.

“And unlike face masks, it delivers a plume of fresh air without touching your face, using high-performance filters and two miniaturised air pumps.”

One reviewer said they would definitely “turn heads in the street”.

Britta O’Boyle, deputy editor at gadget publication Pocket-lint, wrote: “Their design is certainly eye catching.”

The sound quality was “excellent”, she told BBC News, and the headphones had a “lovely construction”. But as she had been unable to test the product outdoors, she could not say how effectively it would purify air or “how silly you feel wearing it”.

Meanwhile, tech website Cnet said the device looked “like something you’d see in a dystopian sci-fi movie”.

The product has been six years – and 500 prototypes – in the making.

Little did Dyson realise when it started work on this invention just how accustomed the world would become to wearing masks.

Originally, a snorkel-like mouthpiece was paired with a backpack holding the motor and inner workings. So it could have looked sillier, I suppose.

The headphones have sensors that detect how fast the wearer is moving, adjusting the airflow between three intensity levels to ensure they deliver up to five litres of clean air a second, the equivalent breathing rate of a jog.

Meanwhile active noise cancellation technology uses microphones to monitor the sound of the outside world and the spinning compressors either side of the wearer’s head remove it via anti-sound waves played into the ear cups. The headphones can be used without purification by detaching the visor too.

So versatile.

The Dyson Zone is due to go on sale in the autumn for an as-yet unannounced premium price, but they are expected to be a snip at between £500 and £1000 range.

I won’t be investing, but I am a big fan of our Dyson vacuum cleaner. It works a treat, although the best thing about it is that the charge only lasts for 20 minutes.

That’s more than enough hoovering at any given time!