Audacity Forum

Are there recommended procedures for editing out coughs?

Right now I'm enlarging sound wave to the point I can isolate a portion that comes close to aligning the start and stop. Are there better techniques?

The most difficult is when the cough is simultaneous with speech needed. Any tips on this situation?

Appreciated.

The most important thing is to make the edit sound natural. Cutting words too close together can sound natural.

Zooming in and manually selecting is the best approach to defining a "cough".

Use Edit > Find Zero Crossings (shortcut Z) to move your edit points to where the waveform crosses the zero axis - this will minimize "clicks" at the edit point.

Once you have made your selection, use the Cut Preview command (C key) to hear what the audio will sound like after you make the deletion. If it sounds unnatural, adjust the selection until it does.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/ed ... sings.html
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/au ... ction.html
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/pl ... rding.html

-- Bill