HP's Self-cooling Mindframe Headset Leads A New Pack Of High-end Gaming Accessories

The Mindframe gaming headset will feature integrated thermal-electric coolers to keep your sweaty ears cool.

- Gordon Mah Ung

HP’s Mindframe headset will feature active cooling to keep your ears from sweating through gaming sessions. Repeat: This new HP headphone has active cooling. For your ears.

The Mindframe is just the most innovative of a host of gaming accessories HP announced in late May. The company also introduced its Sequencer keyboard with optical mechanical switches, and the Reactor mouse with an aluminum cable designed to stay flat. The Reactor mouse will cost $79, while the Sequencer keyboard will set you back $179. Both should be available in June.

HP says the Mindframe features thermometric coolers (TEC) integrated into the ear cups. TECs work by using an electrical charge to create a Peltier effect, which can radiate or absorb heat.

TECs have been used for many years to cool computers and cute little six-pack refrigerators, but this would appear to be the first time it’s been used to cool a headset. It may seem silly, but HP’s research says 46 percent of gamers cited discomfort from heat as an issue with gaming headsets.