Controls which audio device Whiskers uses and how aggressively it filters silence.
Input device
- Settings → Microphone.
- Pick from the Input Device dropdown — built-in mic, USB or XLR interface, Bluetooth headset, etc.
- Speak. The level meter should move.
Settings → Microphone with a device dropdown set to MacBook Pro Microphone and a green animated level meter
If your device isn't listed, click Refresh. If it still doesn't appear, the issue is at the macOS level (System Settings → Sound → Input), not Whiskers.
Voice Activity Detection (VAD)
VAD decides what's "speech" and what's "silence or noise." Whiskers uses it to:
- Skip transcription entirely if you didn't say anything.
- Trim long silences from the start and end of a recording.
- Find natural pause points when chunking long files in File Transcription.
Settings
| Setting | Default | Range | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enable VAD | On | On/Off | Master toggle |
| Sensitivity | 50% | 30–80% | Lower catches quieter speech (and more noise); higher requires louder speech |
| Min speech duration | 0.25s | 0.1–0.5s | Sounds shorter than this count as noise |
| Min silence duration | 0.4s | 0.2–1.0s | Gaps shorter than this aren't treated as breaks |
When to adjust
| Symptom | Try |
|---|---|
| Background noise transcribed | Raise sensitivity, raise min speech |
| Quiet parts dropped | Lower sensitivity |
| Coughs / throat clearing transcribed | Raise min speech duration |
| Sentences split mid-thought | Raise min silence duration |
| Recording feels laggy to start | Lower min speech duration |
Most people never touch these — defaults are tuned for typical desk-mic use in a moderately quiet room. Only adjust if you have a specific problem to solve.
Bluetooth tips
- Keep the device within ~10 ft of the Mac.
- Avoid using it as both audio output and input simultaneously where possible — bandwidth contention causes glitches.
- Charge it fully if audio sounds chopped.
Testing without recording
Just open Settings → Microphone and speak. The level meter moves with your voice. Flat meter = wrong input or broken device, not a Whiskers issue.
For deeper diagnosis, see Troubleshooting → Microphone issues.