so I've read through this whole thread and learned that...
A. You've got a really awesome idea on your hands,
and B. you're sitting on thousands of dollars worth of customers!
is the problem the work load?
could you perhaps wire up mic-->board-->speakers and a seperate external mics-->board-->headphones simple versions for us to install in our own lids where we want?
I'm really interested in one myself, and as I see it, you could maybe provide an "install it yourself" version to recoup some costs relatively quickly while you hone your goldmine of a project!
Sorry if what I have said was super naive...haha
I'm not any kind of electronics expert at all (stoked that I can set my xbox up myself! JK) but I would love to see this come to fruition without you being too overwhelmed to get it going!
Thanks for being awesome and sharing this project
Let us make you rich!
haha