Earpiece

An earpiece in 2151

An earpiece was a wireless receiver device used by communications officers, science officers and navigators during the 22nd and 23rd centuries. (ENT: "Broken Bow"; TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver", et al.)

Designs & Uses

See also: Gallery of earpiece styles

In the 22nd century, an earpiece was usually a white, round module with a blue center, adjacent to six oblong holes. The earpiece's user would press it against their right or left ear, enabling them to hear the device. This style of earpiece was commonly used by Communications Officer Hoshi Sato aboard the NX class starship Enterprise. (ENT: "Broken Bow", et al.)

By 2265, a black ear device had been invented. This could be used in conjunction with a ship's library computer, accessed through the vessel's science station. Like the earpieces of the previous century, a person would use this device by holding it against their ear. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")

As this device was only used in conjunction with the library computer and in only one episode, it is unclear if it had any other uses. It is therefore also unclear how similar it was to the earpieces used primarily for communications.

By the mid-2260s, earpieces were more commonly used aboard Starfleet vessels. They consisted of several metallic rungs, attached to a virtually transparent lead that was inserted into the user's ear, negating the need for tactile support. The signals they received could be amplified throughout the user's ship, although the devices had no automatic protection that might mute or lower loud transmissions. Aboard the Constitution-class USS Enterprise, this style of earpiece was frequently used by Communications Officer Uhura, Science Officer Spock and several relief navigators. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver", et al.)

Later, earpieces were also used by Uhura and Spock aboard the HMS Bounty and the Enterprise-A. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

History

Enterprise (NX-01)

File:HoshiSato2151.jpg

Ensign Hoshi Sato using an earpiece (2151)

In April 2151, the NX class Enterprise followed a Suliban craft into the atmosphere of a gas giant, where the starship was attacked by two Suliban cell ships. In a liquid phosphorus layer of the planet's atmosphere, sensors were less reliable than usual but Ensign Hoshi Sato managed to use an earpiece, pressed against her left ear, to learn that a Suliban projectile weapon was about to collide with Enterprise before it actually did. Using the information determined via her earpiece, Hoshi was able to alert the other officers on the bridge to brace themselves before the collision.

Although expectation of the impact caused her to jerk the earpiece away from her ear, Hoshi soon after replaced the earpiece in an attempt to locate Captain Archer and Commander Tucker, who were aboard a Suliban helix in a lower layer of the atmosphere. Moments later, Hoshi heard her earpiece receive an extremely faint transmission from Commander Tucker that she amplified for the rest of the bridge crew. Ultimately, the signal, originally received through Hoshi's earpiece, led the officers to recover their captain and their chief engineer. (ENT: "Broken Bow")

The next month, Enterprise encountered an unidentified alien craft that was actually Axanar. As Hoshi could detect no comm traffic from the ship, she listened to her earpiece as she sent the craft both a message from Captain Archer, after it was processed through Enterprise's translation matrix, and a pulsar grid. However, she heard no response from the Axanar craft through her earpiece, as every crew member aboard the craft had been killed. (ENT: "Fight or Flight")

Later that year, the crew of Enterprise attempted to find a group of Human colonists who had lost contact with Earth seventy years earlier, after having settled on the planet Terra Nova. As the starship approached the planet, Hoshi listened to her earpiece intently while she sent a message from Captain Archer. She heard no answer from anyone on the planet through her earpiece, though. (ENT: "Terra Nova")

USS Enterprise

File:Spock with earpiece.jpg

Spock using an ear receiver (2265)

File:Uhura2266.jpg

Lieutenant Uhura wearing an earpiece (2266)

In 2265, Spock used an ear receiver, which was hard-wired to the library computer station, in order to review and relay the log of the SS Valiant. (TOS: "Where No Man Has Gone Before")

In 2266, Uhura, who had been assigned to serve as the Enterprise's communications officer, used an earpiece in her left ear to determine that the starship was not receiving any signals from an odd cube encountered in uncharted space.

After the Enterprise destroyed the cube, Spock wore an earpiece in his right ear while he reported to Captain Kirk that there was no sign of the cube, and considered possible consequences if the starship continued on its course.

While later wearing her earpiece, Uhura hailed an object approaching the Enterprise that was actually a ship under the command of Balok, who had meant the cube to be a warning buoy. Shortly after she contacted Balok's ship, relaying a message from Captain Kirk, navigator Dave Bailey put another earpiece to his right ear. He used the device to receive a message transmitted over his navigation beam. Uhura, still wearing her own earpiece, was able to play Balok's message aloud so that the other officers aboard could also hear what was being sent. Both Bailey and Uhura continued to hear the message through their earpieces but, when a piercing crackle of static was transmitted from Balok's ship, the two officers immediately pulled the devices from their ears, in pain due to the disturbingly loud noise.

Uhura continued to use her earpiece as she relayed messages from Captain Kirk to Balok, often removing it at her own accord. However, she twice removed the device from near her ear when, both times, the bridge began to resonate with a whining noise that steadily increased in pitch. She also later used the earpiece to detect a repeating distress signal from Balok - while he was in a smaller personal ship that had apparently lost power - to the craft he had departed, the Fesarius. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")

While the Enterprise pursued an unidentified vessel actually belonging to Harry Mudd, Uhura used her earpiece to ascertain that the occupants of the craft were either refusing to answer her hails or not receiving them. After the vessel entered an asteroid belt and began to superheat, Uhura heard a distress signal from the craft through her earpiece, but Harry Mudd and three female companions of his were rescued and beamed aboard the Enterprise shortly thereafter. Uhura later used her earpiece to arrange a meeting between the Enterprise's senior staff and two miners from Rigel XII, as the starship required replacement lithium crystals. While officers from the ship reluctantly arranged a trade in which they would receive the crystals if they provided the miners with Mudd's companions, one of the women and a pursuing miner became lost in a magnetic storm on the planet. As part of the subsequent search, Uhura used her earpiece to maintain communications with the miners, until the storm worsened and audio contact was consequently broken. Both the miner and the woman were ultimately recovered, although Uhura's earpiece was not responsible for locating them. (TOS: "Mudd's Women")

Gallery of earpiece styles

From 2155

From 2266

From 2293

Appearances

• ENT:
  • "Broken Bow"
  • "Fight or Flight"
  • "Terra Nova"
  • "Civilization"
  • "Fortunate Son"
  • "Silent Enemy"
  • "Sleeping Dogs"
  • "Fallen Hero"
  • "The Communicator"
  • "Canamar"
  • "The Crossing"
  • "The Breach"
  • "Cogenitor"
  • "Regeneration"
  • "The Expanse"
• TOS:
  • "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
  • "The Corbomite Maneuver"
  • "Mudd's Women"

Background

The number of times "Uhura touches earpiece" is one of the tracked "Trek Stats" featured in the interactive Star Trek 2.0.

Even in her first appearance as Uhura, as the camera pulls back from an elevated position above the bridge in "The Corbomite Maneuver", actress Nichelle Nichols is seen with an earpiece in her ear.

Later in the same episode, Spock wears an earpiece that features in a continuity error, as it suddenly disappears in the next shot.

For Star Trek: The Motion Picture, production forgot to design and create a new earpiece for Uhura so they decided to use one that still remained from production on the original Star Trek series.

The name of this device was never stated in any episode and comes from the scripts to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country [1] and ENT: "Broken Bow" [2]. The Star Trek Encyclopedia and the non-canon Star Fleet Technical Manual call it an "ear receiver".