Patent ID: 7861821

Claim:
A blanket system comprising: a blanket that is sized and shaped to partially or fully cover a sleeping person, wherein some or all of the blanket comprises a sound-emitting area; an acoustically transmissive communication channel, integrated with the blanket, wherein the acoustically transmissive communication channel includes a flexible tube comprising a lumen carrying a gaseous, liquid, or other non-solid medium that acoustically communicates acoustic energy from a sound-processing device to the sound-emitting area where this energy is emitted as sound, wherein the flexible tube is integrated with the blanket and has enough structural flexibility such that a portion of the blanket including at least a portion of the flexible tube can be pressed against a portion of the person's head or neck; and wherein the flexible tube comprises, in the sound-emitting area of the blanket a diaphragm in the tube wall, the diaphragm configured to emit acoustic energy in sound-emitting area, wherein the diaphragm is configured to retain a gaseous, liquid, or other non-solid medium within the flexible tube, but to allow movement of the diaphragm in response to acoustic energy communicated via the medium within the flexible tube to emit acoustic energy from the tube via the diaphragm.