I have been working remotely for many years, and because of my frequent travel, I’ve learned how to work just about anywhere. While I maintain a separate office a few blocks from my home, I have also, like you, been working from home more than ever before.
As I often say to my team, I have a tool for that.
Machine Learning Audio
Krisp is a tool I use to reduce background noise. I have been using it on my Windows laptop for a while now, but a version of the program is also available for Apple computers.
The app uses machine learning to identify and then silence various types of background noises you may hear at home, in the office, or while in a public location. The program allows your voice and the voices of others to come through clearly.
The machine learning algorithm the company created is trained to recognize the voice of a person talking into a microphone. When you think about it, pretty much everything else is just noise. So, the model automatically removes the “noise” from the audio waveform, leaving what you and others hear clean, even if there’s a police siren driving by where you’re making the call.
Krisp is a fantastic example of the power of machine learning tools.
In addition to adjusting the audio from your side of the call, Krisp can also mute sound coming from the other direction — that is, the noise on your conference call from those who didn’t mute their line. So, if the other caller is on a noisy street and you’re safe at the office, you can apply the smart noise reduction to them as well.
Because it changes the audio signal before it gets to any apps or services, it’s compatible with almost everything: Zoom, Skype, Messenger, Webex, or other similar platforms. A Chrome extension allows you to use Krisp with browser-based tools.
A free version of Krisp is available, so you can try it out to see how it works. Three tiers of paid versions are also available starting at $3.33 per month.
Check out the demo below of how it works. You can also watch it by clicking here.
What tips have you learned over the last few months that help make working remotely…work?
