Comms

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Why don't people wear headsets instead of holding comms or wearing badges?

* To be better able to quickly hide it if someone shouldn't see it? (then why not earwigs?)
* To make it less likely to get lost or broken without your knowledge?
* So if you get shot at, exploding pieces won't blind you?

 

[Timo]

No doubt future sound projection technology can create virtual headsets, with the "loudspeaker" arbitrarily placed. I mean, even Trek visual systems appear capable of such virtuality, viewing and projecting outside line-of-sight...

An unobtrusive hands-off set worn in such a fashion that it doesn't tickle you, irritate your peripheral vision, or risk falling off would then be likelier than ever. A chest badge sounds like a natural choice, but of course there would be others. Perhaps civilian attire features Universal Translators elsewhere, similarly casting their output virtually into the ear?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I mean, the tech was available - Uhura wore one. But that's probably because her job was to stay in constant contact with (monitoring) the comm lines, which not everyone has to do.

 

[C.E. Evans]

It's possible that during the time of TOS, headsets didn't offer the range that handheld communicators did. By the time of TNG, they may have been considered as passé as handheld communicators if combadges were the style of the day.