Children who sustain an mTBI are at increased risk for developing new affective or behavioral disorders over four-years post-injury.

I’m happy to announce that we’re finalizing the second issue of The WPCandy Quarterly, in the last stage before sending it off to the printers. It’s an exciting — but busy! — time, and we’re most psyched to be so close to getting another issue into everyone’s hands. We have an amazing roundup of contributors […]

The post An update on The WPCandy Quarterly #2! appeared first on WPCandy.

Sometimes I think theme frameworks just aren’t a good thing for the end user. When it comes to the experience with the least friction, the most welcoming to a new user, and the least technically complex, I just don’t see anything beating a simple theme folder with a handful of template files and an image folder. […]

The post It’s hard to beat fourteen files and an image folder appeared first on WPCandy.

Genetic tests showed that certain patients were predisposed to brain injuries if they took the drugs. That information remained secret.

Nikki Jennings started cheering when she was 4 years old. She was small and flexible and became a flyer, a human baton spinning and twisting through the air before being caught by teammates. Until sometimes she wasn’t: She got her first concussion in the third grade.

North Carolina State quarterback Grayson McCall is retiring from football, he announced Wednesday after sustaining a head injury during a game earlier this month. "Brain specialists, my family, and I have come to the conclusion that it is in my best interest to hang the cleats up," he continued. "I have done everything I can to continue, but this is where the good Lord has called me to serve in a different space."

Tua Tagovailoa is set to return to NFL action this weekend after recovering from his latest concussion. Six weeks ago the Miami Dolphins quarterback suffered his third concussion in less than two years - and fourth overall, including his college career. Many pundits and ex-players called for the 26-year-old from Hawaii to retire. Some even said the NFL should take the decision out of his hands. BBC Sport looks at why Tagovailoa has chosen to keep playing and Dr Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer, explains the league's stance.

Western University researchers are taking a unique global approach to finding an effective treatment for people living with long COVID. Led by Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry professor Dr. Douglas Fraser, the projects represent the first multi-continental research conducted on long COVID, with study sites in Africa and North and South Americas. The long-term effects of long COVID – including symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue and difficulty breathing – can be debilitating and greatly impact quality of life. At least 65 million people around the world are affected by the condition. 

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has announced the release of its revised Best Practices Guidelines in the Management of Traumatic Brain Injury, offering healthcare providers comprehensive strategies to improve the care and outcomes of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI).

New research from the Salk Institute is providing hope for people who suffer from PTSD, panic attacks, migraines, and more. "Our body has an alarm system that detects danger from the environment or inside our body," explains Dr. Sung Han, an Associate Professor at the Salk Institute and lead researcher for this project. "Sometimes our bodies generate false alarms... We need to understand (what) molecules send the false signal to the brain so that we can block (it)."

A commentary, published in the Journal of Neurotrauma, calls for traumatic brain injury to be recognized as a chronic condition as are diabetes, asthma, depression and heart failure. To provide comprehensive care for traumatic brain injury throughout individuals' lifespans, the authors propose that coordinated care models they and others have developed, tested and applied to various populations—including older adults, individuals living with depression and post-intensive care unit survivors—be adapted to improve communication and integration between brain injury specialists—including physical medicine and rehabilitation clinicians—and primary care physicians, fostering better long-term patient care for traumatic brain injury survivors and more support for both patients and their families.

Most people may be familiar with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and other common types of psychotherapy, but art therapy remains somewhat of a mystery to the general public. Not incorporating it into a treatment plan could be a huge missed opportunity for veterans who’ve experienced trauma and other patients in need of mental health support. “Art is a means of therapy and a way to heal,” says Marine Corps veteran Jerry Rael. “It helps me escape some of the things that I went through during my time in service.”  Art can also be therapeutic for families who have lost a loved one in battle, as seen in Make Peace or Die: Honor the Fallen. In the film, Marine Anthony Marquez carves battlefield crosses out of wood for each lost service member and then hand-delivers them to Gold Star families, including a grieving mother who had attempted suicide.

New research data offers much-needed hope for veterans wrestling with combat-associated posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study explores the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to address symptoms that persist despite standard treatments.

The pounding that sailors’ brains take from years of high-speed wave-slamming in the Special Boat Teams can cause symptoms that wreck their careers — and their lives.

How and why should healthcare providers ask patients if they have PTSD?

Click here to see other video Q&As with Lt. Col. Holcombe.

Click here to return to our BrainLine Military Ask the Expert feature.

Learn about the risks and benefits of taking Ritalin after a brain injury.

How do you test the vision of someone with TBI who cannot communicate — talk or respond otherwise to questions?

Real life is always more complicated than fiction, especially when it comes to brain injury.

More than imaging, diagnosis of TBI is still based on the initial symptoms at the time of the injury.

A child with a brain injury may develop more injury-related issues as an adult.

In a surprise announcement, Fujifilm is entering the cinema camera market. But instead of leveraging their APS-C X-Trans sensor tech to make Super35 cameras, they’re...

The post Fuji is making its first cinema camera, and it’s got a medium format GFX sensor appeared first on DIY Photography.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which has orbited Jupiter since 2016, recently captured striking new images of the gas giant during its 66th close flyby. This solar-powered...

The post Juno’s latest flyby photos reveal Jupiter like never before appeared first on DIY Photography.

We've listened to your feedback and are excited to announce the introduction of metadata variables in Auphonic for more advanced use of our Basic and Extended Metadata.
This new feature allows you to use metadata fields from your input files to automate workflows. You can easily reference any field by using { curly brackets } and typing the field name, such as {title}, {artist}, {album}, {track}, and more.
To get started, take a look at our Formatting Examples and the Table of all Variables to see all the available options.

Whether you are using the Auphonic Web Service or our API, metadata variables can be applied whenever metadata values are set. They are particularly helpful when working with Presets, Batch Productions, or Watch Folders!

For instance, consider the left column of the following table as input ending up in the metadata as shown in the right column:

Note:
Please mind that fields can not refer to each other in cycles (e.g., if {title} refers to {album}, {album} may not refer to {title}). While the input form will not show any errors, the metadata will most likely not be correct and the production will generate a warning.

Formatting Examples

With metadata variables you can automatically generate your output file basename based on the input filename and podcast metadata, like album, track, and title.
If you have, for example, a podcast preset or input file with the album name "The Placeholder Podcast", you can automatically name your episode title like your input filename. By combining the metadata variables "album" name and your generated episode "title" with any text patterns, like "denoised" in this case, you can create your individual output file basename:

The next example shows how you can create truly unique output file basenames with timestamps. Here, a track number is, together with the input file basename, added up as episode title. So, your unique output file basename could be a combination of this generated episode title with the time and date, when your Auphonic production was started:

See example 3 for more time formatting examples, and this table for the full list of symbols that can be used for formatting dates.

The following time and date example outputs would be possible for a production created at 7:05 pm on Saturday, January 30th in 1999:

See this table for the full list of symbols that can be used for formatting dates.

For the list fields "tags", "chapters", "outputfiles", and multitrack "input_filename/basename", you need to reference every value separately by adding .N to your variable – Where N stands for ascending ordinal numbers starting from 0.
Combined with the .N you can refer to the format, bitrate, suffix, and ending of every selected output file, for example {outputfiles.0.format} refers to the format of the first output file in your list of outputfiles:

• Output File 1 – format: WAV 16-bit PCM, bitrate: optimal, suffix: lossless, ending: wav
• Output File 2 – format: MP3, bitrate: 112 kbps, suffix: lossy, ending: mp3

For all available options, please see the Table of List Variables.

All Metadata Variables

The following variables are available:

For detailed use, please see Formatting Examples.

Conclusion

Metadata Variables are a powerful tool for organizing your productions whenever metadata values are set. Those field references are very convenient when distinguishing between different files at a glance, particularly when working with Presets, Batch Productions, or Watch Folders.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or feedback!

Cutting audio can be a rather tedious task. It requires a decent amount of time and is quite repetitive. Often silence segments, like speech breaks or breathing pauses, make cutting audio necessary in the first place.

Photo by Daniel Schludi on Unsplash

We introduce our new automatic silence cutting feature! It will make your life easier by saving you the time you would normally require to cut silence segments in your recordings.

Why do you need to cut silence segments?

Silence segments occur in your audio recordings naturally. They can be due to short speech breaks or breathing pauses. It's also possible, that at the beginning of a recording equipment needs to be re-adjusted, which also may result in a few seconds of silence.

Usually, listeners do not want to hear silence segments. The reason is easy: silence is redundant filler content. Hence, silence segments need to be cut to achieve a high-quality listening experience. Locating the segments and cutting them manually is tedious though and takes a decent amount of time for longer recordings.

This is why we developed and released our own automatic silence cutting feature.

How do we cut silence for you?

Our automatic silence cutting algorithm detects and cuts silence segments reliably. All you need to do is to enable the algorithm in your production - no further settings are required! This is the easiest possible way for you to cut silence in an audio file.

How to enable silence cutting for your production.

In our audio processing system, silence cutting is a multi-stage algorithm. We use our sophisticated voice activity detection algorithms to detect what is useful content and what is silence. Then we cut the silence parts and crossfade the remaining audio segments to make sure no audio artifacts are introduced. When cutting we ensure that intended speech breaks, e.g. between two sentences, remain untouched.

When we cut any audio, we make sure that chapter marks and speech recognition transcripts are adapted accordingly. Additionally, when exporting to other external services we make sure the cut tracks are exported and correctly labeled.

Audio Examples

Let's listen to two audio examples.

Example 1 (Singletrack production)

Here we have a singletrack production with three silence segments. The segments are located at the beginning of recording, between the first and the second "Hi" as well as at the end. Each silence segment is cut down to a length which still sounds natural, but does not annoy the listener.

The breathing onsets, which happen straight before voice kicks in again, are not cut. This makes sure that the character of the recording remains natural.

For this example, we also activated our new AutoEQ feature to remove pops in the audio.

Here is also a screenshot of how the result looks in our audio player. The gray areas show where our audio processing system cut the silence.

The result of example 01, as displayed by our Audio Inspector.

Thx to the Feel Free to Deviate podcast for providing this recording.

Example 2 (Multitrack production)

Let's also look at silence cutting in a multitrack production. This small excerpt of the TVEye podcast contains a music track and three speaker tracks. Before the intro music kicks in, there are a few seconds of silence.

The few seconds of silence at the beginning of the file are cut. After that, no further cuts are applied though to make sure the background music remains intact.

This is how the result of example 02 looks in our Audio Inspector.

Silence Cutting in our Audio Inspector

As you may have seen already in the examples, the cut segments are displayed as checked grey areas in the Audio Inspector. This is how they will be displayed by default.

Cut segments are displayed as checked gray areas by default.

During playback, the Audio Inspector will automatically skip these cut segments on the master track and play the silence segments if you activate the input track. This way, you can check each segment that was cut.

It's also possible to hide the cut segments. The following picture shows you how to do that.

You can also hide cut segments.

First, you must click onto the "?" icon in the bottom right corner to show the Audio Inspector options. Then you must toggle the "Silence Cut Region" switch. After that, the cut regions are not displayed anymore, and also won't be played back on the input track anymore.

If you click onto "Show Stats", you can activate the audio processing statistics. These statistics show you how much of your audio was cut, as well as the resulting track length after the cuts were applied.

The processing statistics tell you more about how much audio was cut.

Conclusion

With our automatic silence cutting feature, we went one step further towards the perfect audio assistant. Audio editing has been a tedious-but-necessary task for a long time, but with our automatic silence cutting feature, we just made it easier for you!

Feel free to send us your feedback - how do you like our new feature? Also, make sure to follow us, as we will release more automatic cutting algorithms for you in the future!

We're thrilled to introduce our Automatic Shownotes and Chapters feature. This AI-powered tool effortlessly generates concise summaries, intuitive chapter timestamps and relevant keywords for your podcasts, audio and video files.
See our Examples and the How To section below for details.

Why do I need Shownotes and Chapters?

In addition to links and other information, shownotes contain short summaries of the main topics of your episode, and inserted chapter marks allow you to timestamp sections with different topics of a podcast or video. This makes your content more accessible and user-friendly, enabeling listeners to quickly navigate to specific sections of the episode or find a previous episode to brush up on a particular topic.

Shownotes are also very likely to boost your show's Search Engine Optimization and eventually its popularity, leading to an increase in listeners.

However, especially structuring the content and finding useful positions for chapter marks is a very time-consuming process, that can be fully automated with our new feature.

Besides the obvious use of creating shownotes and chapters for podcasts, you can also use our new feature to easily generate an abstract of your lecture recording, take the summary of your show as the starting point for a social media post, or choose your favourite chapter title as the podcast name.

What happens behind the Scenes?

When the Automatic Shownotes and Chapters feature is selected, the first step is speech transcription by either our internal Auphonic Whisper ASR or any integrated External ASR Service of your choice.

Some open source tools and ChatGPT will then summarize the ASR resulting text in different levels of detail, analyze the content to identify sections with the different topics discussed, and finally complete each section with timestamps for easy navigation.
Beginning with the generation of a Long Summary, the number of characters is further reduced for a Brief Summary and from the brief summary a Subtitle and some Keywords for the main topics are extracted.

Depending on the duration of the input audio or video file, the level of detail of the thematic sections is also slightly adjusted, resulting in a reasonable number of chapters for very short 5-minute audio files as well as for long 180-minute audio files.

How to automatically generate Shownotes and Chapters in Auphonic

If you are a paying or beta user, you can automatically generate shownotes and chapters by checking the Automatic Shownotes and Chapters Checkbox in the Auphonic singletrack or multitrack Production Form with any of our ASR Services enabled.
Once your production is done, the generated data will show up in your transcript result files and in the well-known Auphonic Transcript Editor above the speech recognition transcript section.
By clicking on a chapter title in the Chapters section of the transcript editor, you can jump directly to that chapter in your transcript to review and edit that section.

Unless you have manually entered content before, the generated data will also be automatically stored in your audio files' metadata as follows:

• Generated Long Summary stored in metadata field Summary.
• Generated Subtitle stored in metadata field Subtitle.
• Generated Keywords stored in metadata field Tags.
• Generated Timestamps for thematic sections stored as Start Time of Chapters Marks.
• Generated Headlines for thematic sections stored as Chapter Title of Chapters Marks.

Please note that not all of our supported Output File Formats are designed to use metadata.
For details see our previous blog posts: ID3 Tags Metadata (used in MP3 output files), Vorbis Comment Metadata (used in FLAC, Opus and Ogg Vorbis output files) and MPEG-4 iTunes-style Metadata (used in AAC, M4A/M4B/MP4 and ALAC output files).

Example

As a real-life example, we automatically generated shownotes and chapters for the Lex Fridman Podcast #367: "Sam Altman: OpenAI CEO on GPT-4, ChatGPT, and the Future of AI".

Check out our transcript and generated shownotes:
LexFridmanPodcast367-transcript.html

Conclusion

The automatic generation of shownotes and chapters is a huge time-saver for podcasters and video creators, as it speeds up the tedious process of manually structuring and summarizing your content.

For now it is available for all paying or beta users. If you would like to become a beta user, or have any questions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us!

We all know the problem: the content is perfectly prepared, and everything is in place, but the moment you hit the record button, your brain freezes, and what pops out of your mouth is a rain of “ums”, “uhs”, and “mhs” that no listener would enjoy.
Cleaning up a record like that by manually cutting out every single filler word is a painstaking task.

So we heard your requests to automate the filler word removing task, started implementing it, and are now very happy to release our new Automatic Filler Cutter feature. See our Audio Examples and Usage Instructions below.

What is removed?

While the definition of filler words is not the same, depending on who you ask, some words can be used as filler as well as content. For example, “like”, “well”, “you know”, etc. cannot be removed without the risk of removing also content and destroying sentences, even if those words are used as filler words in some cases.

Therefore, we decided to focus on the removal of the obvious fillers, namely any kind of “ums”, “uhs”, “mhs”, German “ähm”, “äh”, “öh”, French “euh”, “euhm” and similar.

Audio Examples

1. English Male Speaker

The first audio example is an excerpt from the interview “From Racing Failure to Red Bull Champion: The Untold Christian Horner Story”. Our algorithm found and removed a remarkable ten filler words in this 45-second snippet:

Screenshot of the Auphonic Audio Inspector: each pale red shaded area corresponds to a cut-out filler word.

2. Austrian-German Female Speaker

The following example is an interview with the Austrian Ex-Foreign Minister, Karin Kneissl, who uses seven filler words within 26 seconds:

Usage Instructions

To use the Auphonic Automatic Filler Cutter feature, you just have to create a production or preset as you are used to and select “Cut Fillers” for “Automatic Cutting” in the section “Audio Algorithms”:

When your production is done, all cut-out filler words will appear as pale red shaded areas in the Auphonic Audio Inspector on the production status page, as you can see in the upper screenshot of the Audio Inspector.

If you want to remove silent segments from your audio as well, please also enable our Automatic Silence Cutting feature.

NOTE: Our Automatic Cutting features (for filler and silence) are not available for video files!

Behind the Scenes

For the training of our Automatic Filler Cutter AI-Algorithm, we created datasets that contain manually labeled audio files, collected from 'real world' audio data. So far, we have labeled, trained, and tested the system with English, German, Spanish, and French data.

However, in the Auphonic Web Service, you can activate and test the Automatic Filler Word Cutter for all languages. We would be very happy to hear how the filler removal works out for completely different-sounding languages from, e.g., the Asian, African, or Slavic language families.

Please send us feedback on any problems or error patterns you discover! This will help us generate specific data for the training to improve the algorithm and eliminate your problems.

Conclusion

Automatic filler word cutting is a powerful tool for podcasters looking to enhance the quality of their content. It boosts clarity and professionalism, all while making your editing process more efficient. Some users, however, see a touch of authenticity in filler words within podcasts. So, we leave it up to you to enable or disable the Automatic Filler Cutter feature for your next Auphonic production, depending on your desired style.

We are currently working on filler word cutting optimizations for more languages, so watch our channels to get all the news on our upgrades!

If you have any feedback for us – how the filler cutter is working in your language, what you do or don't like, what you miss, what else you would want to remove from your audio besides silence and filler words, etc. – you are welcome to contact us via email or directly comment on our production interface!

For those of you who like to be in control of every applied cut, we are introducing an update for our Automatic Silence and Filler Word Cutting Algorithms today: The export of Cut Lists allows you to import cuts into your favorite audio/video editor to check and apply the cuts to your files manually.
Thanks to your great feedback, we were able to update our “Filler Word Cutting” algorithm as well.

Cut Lists Export

We now provide the export of various formats of “Cut Lists” in the Auphonic Web Service.
You can use these formats to modify and apply cuts in your post production audio or video editing program:

Screenshot of the Reaper DAW with imported “ReaperRegions.csv”: pale red regions display filler words and pale gray regions mark silence.

To generate the cut lists, choose “Cut List (Filler and Silence)” in the “Output Files” section. By selecting the correct “Ending” you can export the cut lists to a format that is suitable for your post production audio or video editor:

We support regions and EDL (edit decision list) formats:

• Region formats (“AudacityRegions.txt”, “AuditionRegions.csv” and “ReaperRegions.csv”) list filler and silence cut regions with their respective start and end timestamps.
  You can import those cut region lists into your existing Audacity, Audition, or Reaper projects. There you can edit the cut positions to your liking by deleting, moving, or adding individual cut positions. After that, you may apply the cuts manually.
• EDL (edit decision list) formats, “SamplitudeReaper.edl”, “FinalCutProLegacy.xml”, “FinalCutProX.xml” and “DaVinciResolve.edl” (also known as “cmx3600” format and compatible with various editors), can be imported in your software to automatically apply cuts from the EDL file. Depending on the software you use, you may also edit individual cuts manually before applying them. Be aware though that in some editors it may not be possible to add them to an existing project. If this is the case, simply open a new project with the EDL file instead.

Please just let us know if we do not yet provide a cut list format for your favorite audio or video editing program!

Export Uncut Audio

To only detect fillers/silence but NOT cut them, choose the “Export Uncut Audio” mode for “Automatic Cutting” in “Audio Algorithms”. Then you can query cutting times via our API or select your favorite Cut List format as “Output File” to only export cut times for later editing, but without applying cuts during the Auphonic audio post production.

Using the option “Export Uncut Audio”, it is also possible to use our cutting algorithms for video productions. In this case, we will just detect and report cuts, and you can import and apply them in your favorite video editing program afterwards.

Filler Word Cutting Updates

Thanks to your great feedback, we've been able to further optimize our Automatic Filler Word Cutting algorithm.
By now you probably know that our filler word cutter removes all types of “uhm”, “uh”, “mh”, “ähm”, “euh”, “eh” and similar sounds. If you haven't heard about it yet, our release blog post might be a good starting point.

• Enhanced Fade Curves
  We noticed that due to reverb or background noise in input files, some filler cuts did not sound as smooth as they should have. To prevent such rough cuts, we trained our filler detection models with more diverse speech data and compared different fade curve approaches. Now the filler detection is much more robust against noise. Additionally, we developed an asymmetrical fade solution, which, in our opinion, makes the cuts almost inaudible.

  We nonetheless recommend, though, that you use filler cutting in combination with our Dynamic Denoising or Speech Isolation algorithms. These algorithms remove heavy reverb or noise and thus prevent noise artifacts during cutting.

• Handling of Affirmative Sounds
  Some of you were bothered by the fact that affirmative sounds, like “mhm”, “aha”, and “yeah” were cut along with filler words. Driven by your feedback, we tweaked our filler detection algorithm in a way that will remove considerably fewer of these sounds.

• Multitrack Filler Silencing
  We also received requests to optimize filler cutting for crosstalk in Multitrack productions.
  Let's assume that two speech tracks are simultaneously active and one of the two tracks contains a filler word. In this case, we can not cut the filler word in one track without destroying parts of the speech in the other track.
  Our original solution was to skip such a filler. Now, however, we replace it with silence instead. This removes the filler words while preserving all the speech content.

Feedback

If you want to provide us feedback on how you like the updated filler cutting algorithm or about any other features that are missing, you are very welcome to contact us. You can also leave a comment in the feedback section on the status page of your concrete production.

No matter how good your technical equipment might be, it is almost impossible to avoid capturing unwanted in-/exhaling sounds and mouth noises during voice recordings. After some users asked for an automatic removal of such sounds to improve the audio quality, we got to work and are now proud to present a major upgrade to our Denoiser, including the automatic removal of mouth noises and a new “Remove Breathings” option!
Check out our Audio Examples and the Getting Started Guide below.

What is new?

• Remove Breathings: When the new “Remove Breathings” option is enabled, all the inhalation and exhalation sounds will be muted like all the other noises.
• Eliminate Mouth Noises and Eating Sounds: With our upgrade to the Denoiser, we have integrated the elimination of all types of mouth noises, such as smacking, chewing and clicking. These sounds are set to silence in your output file.

NOTE:
By default, mouth noises and breathing segments are muted but not cut. If you want to cut out all silent segments, just add the “Cut Silence” option for “Automatic Cutting” in the audio algorithms.

Audio Examples

1. Example: Breathing Removal

In our first audio example (Freak Show 136), a speaker breathes directly into the microphone, creating a Darth Vader-like effect. This heavy breathing is removed using the “Remove Breathings” algorithm and the Dynamic Denoiser:

2. Example: Mouth Noise and Eating Sounds Elimination

The following example is an excerpt from the Joe Rogan Experience #2054 where Elon Musk and Joe Rogan are eating pizza and talking about how terrible it is for the sound. Listen to how the chewing and smacking sounds are removed after processing with the new Dynamic Denoiser:

Getting Started Guide

For the Auphonic Web Service:

To remove breathing sounds in the Auphonic Web Service, simply create a production or preset as usual and check the “Remove Breathings” checkbox for “Noise Reduction” in the “Audio Algorithms” section.
“Remove Breathings” is only available for Speech Isolation and the Dynamic Denoiser, but NOT for the Static Denoiser.

For the removal of mouth noises, no special settings are required. Just enable the Speech Isolation or the Dynamic Denoise method for Noise Reduction.

For API Use:

To use “Remove Breathings” with the API, set the "denoisemethod" to dynamic or speech_isolation and the "debreath" flag to true, as in these two examples:

"algorithms": {
    "denoisemethod": dynamic, "denoiseamount": 100, "debreathamount": 100,
}

"algorithms": {
    "denoisemethod": speech_isolation, "denoiseamount": 12, "debreathamount": 100,
}

For more information about the API, please visit our API help page, where you will also find all other API Audio Algorithm Settings.

Conclusion

Breath and mouth noise removal is essential for podcasters, as it enhances audio clarity and ensures a more professional, polished presentation. By removing distracting sounds, you can maintain listener engagement and provide a seamless listening experience.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy the new features!
If you have any feedback for us on how the breath and mouth noise elimination is working for you, please feel free to contact us via email or directly comment in our production interface!

Responding to your feedback, we are now proud to present new separate parameters for noise, reverb, and breath reduction to give you more flexible control for your individual, best output results.
Find all the new parameters below and listen to the Audio Examples to get a closer impression of the upgrade.

What's the update about?

Before

Previously, you could only set the Denoising Method and one reduction amount, that was used for all elements.
Depending on the selected method, you were already able to decide whether music, static, or changing noises should be removed, but there was no setting to keep the typewriter sound effects while removing the reverb, for example.

Now

With our latest upgrade, you can now set the reduction amounts separately for noise, reverb, and breathing sounds.
For example, you could completely remove the background noise while reducing the reverb just a little to enhance speech intelligibility but keep the atmosphere. Like we did in Audio Example 1.
Many of you have also asked about the possibility of slightly reducing breath sounds rather than eliminating them completely. In Audio Example 2 we demonstrate how you can prevent your audio from sounding strange and unnatural by reducing instead of eliminating all breathing sounds.

To all of you who are happy with the results and don't want anything to change, relax:
If you don't change the default settings, the noise reduction algorithms work exactly the same as before.

Note: As the 'Static Denoiser' removes only stationary noise, there are no 'Remove Reverb' and 'Remove Breathings' parameters available for this denoising method.

New Parameters

Screenshot of the new Noise Reduction Parameters in the production form.

In order to use the new noise reduction features, you may separately set the following parameters:

• Denoising Method: (unchanged) Select what kind of noise you want to remove.
  [Dynamic Denoiser (default), Speech Isolation, Static Denoiser]
  Note that the parameters 'Remove Reverb' and 'Remove Breathings' are NOT available for Static Denoiser!
• Remove Noise: Select the amount of noise you want to remove.
  [100 dB (default), Disable Denoise, 3 dB, 6 dB, ..., 100 dB (full)]
• Remove Reverb: Select the amount of reverb you want to remove.
  [100 dB (default), Disable Deverb, 3 dB, 6 dB, ..., 100 dB (full)]
• Remove Breathings: Select the amount of breathings you want to remove.
  [Off (default), 3 dB, 6 dB, ..., 100 dB (full)]

Feel free to experiment with all the options to find your preferred parameter settings! Editing and reprocessing existing productions does not cost any additional credits as long as you don't change the input file.

Listen to the results:

1. Reverb reduction with full noise elimination

For the first audio example by conduitministries.com we set the 'Remove Noise' amount to 100 dB (full) and varied the 'Remove Reverb' amount starting from 0 dB (Off) to 12 dB (medium) and to 100 dB (full). Listen to how first the noise is gone and then step by step the reverb is lower:

2. Breathing sound reduction

In the breathing reduction audio example by LibriVox.org we used the 'Remove Breathing' amounts increasing from the original audio with 0 dB (Off) to 12 dB (medium) and to 100 dB (full) reduction.
In the result files you can hear, that the 100 dB (full) elimination leads to weird, unnatural-sounding pauses, that can be prevented by just reducing the breathing sounds:

Try it now on auphonic.com!

Feedback

We hope you like our upgraded version of the Noise Reduction Algorithms with new parameters for more control.
If you have more feature requests or feedback for us, please let us know! You can also leave a comment in the feedback section on the status page of your specific production. We're looking forward to hearing from you!

We're excited to announce the release of our new speaker diarization feature! With our latest update, we can now detect individual speakers within a single audio recording, allowing users to see precisely who said what and when. This information is then reflected in the transcript.
Previously, this feature was only available in Multitrack Productions.

What is Speaker Diarization?

Speaker diarization is the process of identifying different speakers and segmenting an audio file accordingly, making it easier to accurately determine who said what. This is particularly useful in scenarios like meeting recordings, interviews, and podcasts involving multiple speakers.

What's New

Until now, Auphonic users had to use our Multitrack Production Workflow to gain access to speaker identification. With our recent update, this feature is now also accessible for single track productions, thereby further simplifying our workflow.

How It Works

When selecting Auphonic Whisper ASR as your speech recognition engine on our production page, the option to use “Speaker Detection” appears. You can select the number of speakers in the recording yourself, or have the AI identify and label them automatically.

Select "speaker detection" in the speech recognition menu

The identified speakers will then be shown next to what they said in the captions of our audio player and within the generated transcript. We know exactly who is saying what at any given time.

If you need to change speakers' names, you can edit them in our Transcript Editor. By changing the name of the speaker, the changes will be applied automatically within the whole transcript.

Click here for an example transcript to play around with!

The transcript editor also lets you edit the generated transcript's content and correct any mistakes. This gives our users the final say in quality control.

For more information on how to use our transcript editor, click here!

Conclusion

With our newly released speaker detection feature for single track productions, we simplified the automatic transcription process even further. You can drop a single audio file into our algorithms, the AI automatically detects and transcribes its contents and attributes speakers correctly. And if the model should unexpectedly be wrong at any time, you can correct it in our Transcript Editor.

Feedback

We're looking forward to having you utilize our new speaker diarization feature!
Please, feel free to send us feedback through our Contact Form or submit it directly in the status page of your production.
Happy detecting!

Picture a scene where the main act is not just what fills the frame, but also what doesn’t. That’s negative space photography, a technique that turns emptiness into expression and silence into storytelling.

In this deep dive, we’re peeling back layers to reveal how much weight nothingness can hold in your shots.

You’ll grasp why every photographer needs to give their subjects some breathing room and learn how empty areas are not missed opportunities but rather essential for creating balance and drawing attention right where you want it.

We’ll explore ways to use plain backgrounds or blurred surroundings as powerful tools that add feelings of calm, tension, or intrigue—all by letting less say more.

The Essence of Negative Space in Photography

Negative space photography, often seen as the quiet hero of composition, plays a crucial role in how an image is perceived. It’s not just about what you capture—it’s also about what you leave out. This technique can make your main subject pop by simply giving it more breathing room.

Defining Negative Space and Its Role in Visual Composition

Negative space refers to the area surrounding the main subject—or positive space—of a photograph.

Imagine a photograph where time and space seem to bend and warp, creating surreal, elongated images that defy reality.  This is the world of slit scan photography, a fascinating technique that has captivated artists, filmmakers, and scientists for decades.

Slit scan photography is a unique method that captures motion over time, resulting in images that appear stretched or distorted. This technique first gained prominence in the nineteen sixties, most notably in Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film two thousand and one A Space Odyssey.  The mesmerizing Stargate sequence in that film was created using slit scan photography, introducing audiences to its mind-bending visual effects.

Slit scan photography is a captivating and unconventional technique that produces striking, abstract images that defy traditional photography. This method involves capturing a scene or subject through a narrow slit, which moves across the image sensor or film, creating a unique, distorted representation of reality.

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History

Slit scan photography has a rich and fascinating history that spans over a century, with roots in early scientific and astronomical photography. From its humble beginnings to its modern applications,

Change is a scary word. So when we hear it non-stop in conversations about AI, it’s no surprise that many people feel a sense of unease. But what if AI could actually be used for good? Imagine a world where technology is not just about profits and efficiency, but also about improving education and learning opportunities for all. Sal Khan believes that future is possible. If his name sounds familiar, that’s probably because you’ve picked up a skill or two through his widely-used learning platform, Khan Academy. And if that’s the case, you wouldn’t be alone. Some 170 million people around the world currently use its educational resources on subjects ranging from Algebra 1 to Chemistry. A lot of this help is video-based, but they’ve begun introducing adaptive software with interactive exercises more recently as well. Looking at the big picture, Sal hopes to build Khan Academy into a fully-fledged digital tutor capable of both teaching lessons and providing personalized learning experiences to users. Does AI Enable Cheating In Schools? The widespread popularization of AI has garnered some serious questions about cheating in schools. Teachers and parents are voicing concern that kids will use the technology to cut corners, or...

The post AI Is About to Change Education Forever (Again) first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post AI Is About to Change Education Forever (Again) appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Entrepreneurs are a different breed of people. Where others squirm at the thought of making self-managed business endeavors a sole source of income, we see an opportunity for uncapped riches and prosperity. It takes a certain mind to be willing to ignore what society says about breaking the mold and pursue big ideas against difficult odds. Yet folks like John Mackey prove that a defiant spirit can indeed lead to abundant success. I’m excited to have the 44-year CEO of Whole Foods back on the podcast once again. In this episode, our discussion focuses on the spiritual journey of entrepreneurs – that doesn’t get talked about nearly as much as it should – and explores his first-hand experience traveling it as the founder of one of America’s most iconic grocery chains. Incorporating Personal Values Into Work John’s personal values were deeply influential in shaping the development of Whole Foods Market from its early days. He believed strongly in the importance of staying true to one’s principles and letting them guide decision-making and actions as an entrepreneur. It’s a smart strategy – you aren’t going to get very far with a business idea unless you genuinely believe in it and are...

The post The Spiritual Journey of Entrepreneurs (that Nobody Talks About) first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post The Spiritual Journey of Entrepreneurs (that Nobody Talks About) appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Do you ever feel like you’re stuck in a loop, endlessly waiting for that burst of motivation to strike? You’re not alone. The fear of wasted potential and the desire for meaningful progress haunt creators and entrepreneurs alike. But here’s the hard truth: motivation is unreliable. It’s fleeting. It can vanish as quickly as it appears. If you’re tired of waiting for that perfect moment to take action, it’s time to shift your focus. What if I told you that momentum, not motivation, is the true driver of success? A Whisper of Intuition You know my story. From a young age, I betrayed my true passions, suppressing my creativity in favor of playing it safe. It wasn’t until my grandfather’s sudden passing left me with his cameras that I listened to that inner voice. It was a nudge, barely louder than the noise around me, but I took the leap. Following my gut instead of my conditioned safety net changed my life in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Just like that Chinese proverb: the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. This isn’t just true for me; it’s true for all...

The post 5 Proven Ways to Get Things Done (No Motivation Required) first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post 5 Proven Ways to Get Things Done (No Motivation Required) appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Payam Zamani’s journey from refugee to tech mogul is a masterclass in resilience and innovation for creators and entrepreneurs. At 16, Payam fled religious persecution in Iran, arriving in the U.S. with just $75 in his pocket. Within 11 years, he had founded AutoWeb, a company he would later take public for over a billion dollars. His story is not just about success against the odds, but about transforming challenges into catalysts for growth and innovation.For creators and entrepreneurs in their 30s and 40s, Payam’s experiences offer valuable insights on how to leverage adversity. Here are seven ways you can turn challenges into your greatest business assets: 1. Embrace Difficult Journeys as Opportunities for Growth Payam’s harrowing escape from Iran taught him to view challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles. In business, this mindset can help you navigate market volatility and emerge stronger from crises. Action Step: When faced with a setback, ask yourself, “What can I learn from this? How can this experience make me and my business stronger?” 2. Cultivate Hope as a Driving Force Despite facing extreme adversity, Payam maintained hope for a better future. This hope became a powerful motivator, driving him to pursue opportunities and...

The post 7 Ways to Turn Adversity into Your Greatest Business Asset first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post 7 Ways to Turn Adversity into Your Greatest Business Asset appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Let’s talk about something we’ve all faced – that dreaded creative slump. You know the feeling – ideas just aren’t flowing, everything feels stale, and you’re wondering if you’ve lost your mojo. I’ve been there, and I want to share how I broke through and reclaimed my creative fire. Even better, I’ll give you 8 actionable boosters you can start using today. 1. Master Your Craft (But Don’t Stop There) First things first – there’s no substitute for honing your skills. Whether you’re a photographer, writer, musician, or any other type of creator, dedicating time to improve your technical abilities is crucial. But here’s the kicker – don’t let that be your only focus. Try: Set aside 30 minutes each day to work on a specific aspect of your craft. Maybe it’s lighting techniques, chord progressions, or narrative structure. Track your progress over a month and see how it impacts your overall work. 2. Cross-Train Your Creativity This is a game-changer, folks. Just like athletes cross-train to become more well-rounded, we creators need to flex different creative muscles. If you’re a photographer, try your hand at writing. Musicians, pick up a paintbrush. Try: The 30-Day Creative Cross-Training Challenge Week 1:...

The post How I Reclaimed My Creative Spark (Try these 8 boosters) first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post How I Reclaimed My Creative Spark (Try these 8 boosters) appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

We often think of creativity and meditation as separate practices – one active and expressive, the other quiet and introspective. But what if these two seemingly different pursuits are actually deeply interconnected, each enhancing and amplifying the other? This fascinating relationship between creativity and meditation was at the heart of my recent conversation with Henry Shukman, an award-winning poet, author, and Zen master. Henry’s unique background bridges the worlds of artistic expression and contemplative practice, giving him profound insights into how meditation can unlock our creative potential. The Creative Benefits of a Quiet Mind One of the core benefits of meditation is learning to quiet the constant chatter of our minds. As Henry explained, this mental stillness creates space for new ideas and inspirations to emerge: “When we meditate regularly, we’re training our minds to be less caught up in the constant stream of thoughts and worries. And in that spaciousness, creativity has room to flourish. Novel connections and insights can bubble up from our subconscious.” This aligns with what many great artists and innovators have reported – that their best ideas often come during moments of mental quiet and relaxation. By cultivating a meditation practice, we’re essentially preparing fertile...

The post The Deep Connection Between Creativity and Meditation first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post The Deep Connection Between Creativity and Meditation appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Does this scenario sound familiar? You’ve poured countless hours into creating something amazing—perhaps a product, website, artwork, or work presentation. With anticipation, you release it to the world, sharing it with your intended audience. Then… silence. No response, no engagement. It’s as if no one cares. Frustrated, you might find yourself enviously eyeing other creators, wondering how they manage to gain traction while your equally impressive work struggles for attention. You review your process, searching for mistakes, but find none. After all, you followed advice from experts, books, and industry gurus. You meticulously planned, designed, and executed your strategy. Moreover, you promoted extensively, creating accounts on every social platform and using all the right hashtags—yet still, crickets. So what’s the missing piece? Why are others succeeding where you’re not?While it’s tempting to blame factors like bigger budgets or larger teams, these aren’t the real culprits. Although such resources can be helpful, the true key to gaining traction is simpler: building an audience.Fortunately, I’m here to help. Let’s explore five crucial steps to effectively build and grow your audience: 1. Balance Creation and Promotion As creators, we often focus solely on producing content. However, to make a real impact, it’s essential...

The post Build Your Audience with These 5 Key Strategies first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Build Your Audience with These 5 Key Strategies appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

In this episode, Finnian Kelly shares insights from his new book Intentionality: A Groundbreaking Guide to Breath Consciousness and Radical Self Transformation. Finnian debunks the myth that “people don’t change” and explores the power of instantaneous transformation with vivid examples from his life. We go into the significance of self-trust, childhood experiences, and overcoming fear through intentional breathwork. Finnian shares personal stories of financial loss, identity crises, and the profound effects of breathwork on managing fear and enhancing creativity. Some highlights we explore: Energy interventions like breathwork, cold exposure, and sensory deprivation. The importance of creating space for creativity and high performance. The role of childhood experiences in shaping adult behavior. Techniques to leverage energy over time for productivity. And more! Enjoy! FOLLOW FINNIAN KELLY: instagram | facebook | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe

The post You’re Underestimating the Power of Breath first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post You’re Underestimating the Power of Breath appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Learn how self-doubt and common myths about being a "pro" might be sabotaging your creative career. Time to embrace your professional identity!

The post Are You Secretly Sabotaging Your Creative Career? first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Are You Secretly Sabotaging Your Creative Career? appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

In this episode, Dr. Tony Nader drops some serious knowledge about the nature of consciousness and its impact on our daily lives. As a Harvard and MIT-trained neuroscientist, medical doctor, and global leader in Transcendental Meditation, Dr. Nader is uniquely qualified to dive deep into how understanding and connecting with the broader field of consciousness can unlock a limitless supply of creativity, intelligence, and personal fulfillment. Dr. Nader also blows our minds with the potential for collective meditation to create ripple effects throughout society, and how expanding our consciousness can actually enhance our freedom to create the lives we want. Some of the major highlights we cover: The concept of consciousness as a vast ocean with hidden depths of calm and clarity. How regular meditation can lead to inner peace, enhanced creativity, and societal impacts. The science behind meditation and its effects on the brain and society. The interplay of free will, determinism, and consciousness in shaping our lives. And more… Enjoy! FOLLOW DR. TONY NADER: instagram | facebook | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe

The post How To Tap Into Infinite Creativity Through Consciousness first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post How To Tap Into Infinite Creativity Through Consciousness appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

In this episode, Professor Alison Fragale, an expert in organizational psychology, discusses the fascinating dynamics of power and status and how they shape our lives and well-being. We dive into the differences between power and status, why both are essential human needs, and how their presence or absence affects our mental and physical health. Professor Fragale shares actionable strategies to help anyone elevate their status, build influence, and navigate power dynamics with authenticity. We also touch on the challenges of gender and racial status, the importance of autonomy, and practical tactics like leveraging your network and social media to boost your influence. Some highlights we explore: The critical difference between power and status, and how both impact your life. Practical strategies for building influence and maintaining authenticity. The role of gender, race, and autonomy in navigating power dynamics. And more! Enjoy! FOLLOW ALISON FRAGALE: instagram | linkedin | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe

The post Game-Changing Tactics to Elevate Your Status first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Game-Changing Tactics to Elevate Your Status appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

In this episode, I sit down with Prentis Hemphill to explore the real meaning of healing—not as a destination, but as an ongoing process of restoring safety, belonging, and dignity in our lives. We dive into the importance of community, especially post-pandemic, and how reconnecting with our bodies through mindful practices can lead to true transformation. Prentis shares their journey, the questions that drive their work, and practical tips to help us all heal in a world that often feels disconnected. Some highlights we explore: Healing as an ongoing process, not a final destination The power of community and connection in healing Practical ways to integrate mindful moments into your daily life And more! Enjoy! FOLLOW PRENTIS HEMPHILL: instagram | patreon | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe

The post What Happens When You Add Mindful Moments to Your Day? first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post What Happens When You Add Mindful Moments to Your Day? appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

In this episode, Stanford behavioral scientist Dr. Jamil Zaki unpacks the power of trust and the dangers of cynicism. We dive into how our beliefs shape our reality, with trust leading to incredible social and economic gains, while mistrust spirals into cynicism. Dr. Zaki shares insights on empathy, the post-pandemic rise in disconnection, and practical ways to break free from negativity, emphasizing the importance of real-life connections over media-driven cynicism. This conversation is packed with actionable advice on how to foster trust and spread optimism in our daily lives. Some highlights we explore: The ripple effects of trust and mistrust. Practical strategies to challenge and overcome cynicism. The role of media in shaping our perceptions and how to stay grounded. And more! Enjoy! FOLLOW DR. JAMIL ZAKI: instagram | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe

The post Simple Trick to Build Trust in Your Creative Collaborations first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Simple Trick to Build Trust in Your Creative Collaborations appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Learn why a "creative pause" after major achievements is essential for growth. Simone Biles shows us how to embrace rest and reflection over constant pressure.

The post The Creative Pause: Why We Need to Stop Asking “What’s Next?” first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post The Creative Pause: Why We Need to Stop Asking “What’s Next?” appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

In this episode, I sit down with Richard Reeves to dive into his powerful book “Of Boys and Men,” where we unpack why men are struggling in today’s world. From mental health to the evolving roles of fatherhood, we dig into the tough questions. Richard brings in some eye-opening data on education, employment, and how society’s expectations of men have shifted. This isn’t just about men vs. women — it’s about understanding the bigger picture and making space for real change. Some highlights we explore: Why men are falling behind in education and mental health The changing role of fatherhood in modern society The rise of men’s groups and their impact Enjoy! FOLLOW RICHARD REEVES: facebook | twitter | website Listen to the Podcast Subscribe

The post Gender Equality Isn’t What You Think (Here’s Why) first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Gender Equality Isn’t What You Think (Here’s Why) appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Feeling uninspired and exhausted? Discover how to overcome creative burnout with these 4 actionable strategies to reignite your passion.

The post Creative Burnout Destroying Your Passion? (Try These 4 Quick Strategies) first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Creative Burnout Destroying Your Passion? (Try These 4 Quick Strategies) appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Is AI replacing creativity or elevating it? Discover how artists can use AI to enhance their creative process while keeping human emotion at the core.

The post Is AI the End of Creativity or Just the Beginning? first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Is AI the End of Creativity or Just the Beginning? appeared first on Chase Jarvis.

Time management isn’t the answer—discover how to expand your time, get into flow, and live more creatively by rethinking your approach.

The post Time Management Is Dead—Here’s What Actually Works first appeared on Chase Jarvis.

The post Time Management Is Dead—Here’s What Actually Works appeared first on Chase Jarvis.