Having recently switched from carpet floors to hardwood floors, I think the hardwood might be worse. At least the carpet would kind of catch the piece when it fell, so I could shine my desk lamp onto the floor and find it. When a piece falls on the hardwood floor, it bounces approximately 18,000 times and usually vanishes under a desk or into a floor vent.
i can see were your coming from the reason i think carpets are worse is that i have a rug over a carpeted floor is that when i drop a peice it gets lost under the rug then when it comes to vacuming time i lose half a grey hulk and two cylons