Not being unnecessarily distracted by buzz in the office, but being able to enjoy important conversations with colleagues. The macOS app Silenz gives headphone users a helping hand.
Silenz is an extra pair of ears for office workers
Offices can be quite noisy. Especially during meetings, sound often echoes, making it difficult to concentrate. Many office workers therefore listen to music via a headset, in order to focus on their work.
This often works fine, until a colleague asks you something. You need to pause your music or take off your headset, answer the question, and get back to work. The consequence? You are out of your flow. Silenz solves this problem.
Silenz helps headphone users in the office, the developer indicates. The app uses your iMac or MacBook’s microphone to measure the ambient noise, and pauses automatically when it recognizes a human voice, such as that of a colleague. As soon as you are addressed, you can also choose to mute the sound, so that the music continues to play in the background.
Plenty of choices
The added value of the app is mainly in its cleverness. For example, the program knows the difference between a human voice and ambient noise, such as the sounds of people typing on keyboards. Silenz is thus a kind of second pair of ears and separates main from side issues.
Silenz is quite extensive and offers more than enough setting options. You can also choose to amplify ambient noise, because you don’t want to miss any of colleagues’ conversations, for example. In addition, it is possible to set how close someone should be to your desk before the music is interrupted. You do this by adjusting the so-called threshold value.
Download Silenz
The app is compatible with all major media players, including Deezer, iTunes and Spotify. However, for Deezer and Spotify integration you have to put 2.99 euros on the table each. This is in addition to the standard price of 5.49 euros for the ‘bare’ program.