The SpeakerSlide is a Kickstarter project that reminds me of the SoundBender from a while back, but modernized for today's iOS devices.

It plugs into your Lightning port, placing a curved space directly over the device's speaker so that its audio redirects to you rather than going sideways out into the air. No more cupping your hand over the speaker like an animal. It can even be used while charging, assuming you're using Apple's standard Lightning cable and not a 3rd-party model.

The Kickstarter campaign ends in 5 days as of this writing. $10 is the minimum pledge level to receive a SpeakerSlide for iPad in black or white (or, if they meet their stretch goal, an iPhone version).