Do you recall the film " Minority Report " ?
Was not the actor Max von Sydow using a B&O A-8 to speak on the phone at home ?
I recall ( from memory which may be a tad faded, as I don't have the DVD ) that the A-8 prop used in the movie had a piece of conical black foam attached also to the ear piece itself. Using the wire as an antennae has worked elsewhere, even in space, so why couldn't a small vox-style microphone be added also ?
Make complete sense, and as the item platform is already in production would ( sorry, should ) cut costs. This is beginning to sound interesting.