According to the TNG Technical Manual (which is not entirely canon, but whatever) it's all handwaved by a context-sensitive AI that figures out who you're tryin

According to the TNG Technical Manual (which is not entirely canon, but whatever) it's all handwaved by a context-sensitive AI that figures out who you're trying to talk to from context clues. https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/55156/why-is-there-no-combadge-lag-on-initiating-inter-personnel-comms https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/55156/why-is-there...