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Comment on Shut up and take my money: A working (bluetooth) TNG Combadge

Our tech is simply not there to put proper speakers and microphones AND a well sized battery in something so small.

Especially speakers. Volume is determined by the amount of air the diaphragm can move - and there's an exponential relationship between the size of the diaphragm and the volume of air it moves. Large diaphragm: even small movements (low amplification) can be loud because of how much air you move. Small diaphragm: even at high amplification, the volume will be low.

Smartphone speakers work this around by having an actually large speaker with appropriate sized cavity tucked away. Like, look at an iPhone teardown and see just how big the speakers are for the mediocre volume they can output. A combadge is what, 1/5 the size of the largest iPhone, in volume? And you still need to put electronics AND a battery in there.

It could work as a microphone, but not as a speaker.

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data1701d@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Part of me wonders if you could cheat a bit and put the speaker in say, a tricorder prop.

Looking at the size of the iPhone 15’s speakers, I think it might actually be possible to fit it in. You might have to fudge the dimensions a little bit, but I think that could fit in a roughly combadge-sized space. The big question is getting the rest of the electronics to fit.

Sounds like a fun project for self-torture in KiCad.

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IcedRaktajino@startrek.website ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
Laptop-style speakers may be just enough. It would be tight and maybe the badge would have to be enlarged slightly to accommodate it, though.

I did a deep clean of my laptop not long ago and was surprised at how tiny and flat the speakers actually were. They won’t fill a room, but they’re enough for light music or a Teams call at arm’s length. Granted, it might not be good in a noisy area, but that would be a problem for the mic as well (not to mention public speakerphone use is kind of frowned on lol).

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- fonix232@fedia.io ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Laptop speakers work with being small by adding a large sound cavity around it, which allows for the sound to be amplified.
  
  You can't jam that into a combadge size while also keeping space for battery and electronics.
  
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