Noisetorch

NoiseTorch is a cool little Linux audio app which aims to provide noise suppression for your audio inputs. Whether it be a dog barking outside, someone turning on a hairdryer, the next door neighbour mowing his lawn or a freight train outside your kitchen window, NoiseTorch may be able to filter out those unwanted sounds.

Often when I'm gaming and talking to friends, I find myself having to hit the mute button when some random loud noise from my surroundings occurs. This audio app aims to filter out those sometimes annoying noises bleeding into your microphone, allowing only your voice through.

Installing NoiseTorch

Installation of NoiseTorch is very simple. It can be found in the AUR on Arch Linux. For installing on other Linux distributions or from source, you can view the NoiseTorch GitHub page.

1yay -S noisetorch

You can then run it just like you would any other app.

Using NoiseTorch

NoiseTorch provides a GUI for you to select your audio monitor source along with a voice activation threshold slider. By default, the threshold slider is set to 95%, however, you can play with the value to achieve the result you desire.

You simply select the audio input you wish to use, then press the "Load NoiseTorch" button located on the bottom right of the window.

Once you've done this, NoiseTorch will create a "virtual microphone" for you to select in any audio application you wish to use with it.

Testing With Mumble

I've tested NoiseTorch with a VoIP app called Mumble, and it seems to work great. I simply opened up the "Settings" window in Mumble then selected the "NoiseTorch Microphone" for my headset in the "Audio Input" tab as shown below.

Once running and enabled, you can happily close the NoiseTorch GUI, since the app will run in the background.

After having used NoiseTorch for a little while, I think it provides an excellent and simple solution to those little audio issues we all encounter on a daily basis. Personally, I find there is nothing more annoying when gaming, than having to sit and listen to background noise blasting through someone's microphone into my ears, I'm sure the same goes for my friends when they are listening to me. Therefore, I think apps like NoiseTorch will be a welcome relief for gamers or content creators wanting cleaner audio.