Tutorials Audio

Removing Noise Live on Calls and Streams with AI

By Infinite Creation · Beginner · ~12 min

A 1960s mid-century comic book style editorial illustration showing a presenter at a boom microphone during a live stream, with a fan, keyboard and telephone noise lines stopped by a glass screen while a second person adjusts a mixing panel.

The Short Version

Live noise removal cleans your microphone while you speak, so the other people on a call or the viewers of a stream never hear the keyboard, the fan or the street. It runs in real time, which means you cannot fix it afterwards. This guide is for anyone who talks on calls, records remote interviews or streams. It explains what the makers of two common tools state, what hardware one of them needs, where the approach fails, and how to test your setup before it matters. We did not test any tool on this page. Each statement about a tool comes from the maker's own page as read on 8 October 2026, and the Sources section says what each page established.

Before You Start

A microphone and the call or streaming app you use
A second device or a friend to listen to your outgoing sound
For NVIDIA Broadcast, a graphics card on the maker's list, described below
A recording option in your call app so you hear what the other end hears

Walkthrough

Decide whether the software or the room should do the work

A quieter room and a closer microphone beat any filter. Software removes steady and intermittent noise and cannot remove sounds close to speech. Use it as a second line of defence after you move the microphone nearer your mouth and turn off the loudest source.

Check what your computer needs

NVIDIA's page for its Broadcast app lists system requirements of a GeForce RTX 2060, Quadro RTX 3000, TITAN RTX or higher graphics card. If you do not have one, the app is not an option. Krisp's page describes a desktop app that works at the audio level with conferencing apps such as Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and Slack Huddles, plus a Chrome extension. It also states the mobile app does not yet include noise cancellation.

Choose the tool's microphone in your call app

Follow the tool's own setup instructions, which we did not test. Tools of this kind usually appear in your call app as a microphone of their own. Pick it as the input, keep your real microphone selected inside the tool, and turn off any built-in suppression in the call app so two filters do not fight.

Record a test call and listen to it

Start a call with only yourself, or with a friend, and record it. Make the sounds you worry about: typing, a clicking pen, a door, a fan. Then listen to the recording on headphones. You are checking two things, how much noise survives and whether your voice sounds thin or clipped at the start of each sentence.

Test the hard cases

Play music in the room, then have a second person speak near you. Krisp's page says its noise cancellation removes noise, echo and cross-talk, but a filter built for one voice might remove a second voice, or keep music. Hear it before you rely on it.

Watch Out For

Wear headphones so speaker sound does not re-enter your microphone and confuse the filter.
Leave the tool on for a stream and for an interview. Turning it on in the middle changes your sound audibly.
If you record a podcast locally, record the unprocessed microphone too. A live filter cannot be undone.

Knowledge Base

Background and Detail

Two facts explain why live tools behave differently from editing tools: they have no time to look ahead, and they run on your machine.

Why live tools are less accurate than editing tools

An editing tool hears the whole file before deciding what is noise. A live tool hears a few milliseconds of audio and must decide immediately, because any delay is audible in a call. That limit is why live tools sometimes clip the first syllable of a sentence or let a short sound through. When quality matters more than latency, record the call and clean it afterwards with an editing tool. The dialogue cleanup guide covers that route.

Local versus cloud

Software on your own computer processes sound without sending it elsewhere. NVIDIA's Broadcast is a local app tied to its graphics cards. Krisp's page does not state where its noise cancellation runs, so check its privacy information before using it with confidential material such as an unreleased project or a news source.

Where This Fits

A live filter is the last defence against a noisy source, and OBS Studio for Beginners sets out the scene, audio routing and monitoring choices that come before it.

FAQ

Q: Is NVIDIA Broadcast free?
A: The download page does not say. It shows a download button and a system requirements list. Check the page when you download.

Q: Does Krisp have a free plan?
A: The page offers a free sign-up and lists no limits. Read the plan details at sign-up.

Q: Will this fix a bad microphone?
A: No. It reduces noise around a voice and does not restore a poor recording. Use the dialogue cleanup guide for that.

Vocabulary

Cross-talk Sound from a second speaker leaking into a microphone meant for one person. It is hard for a noise filter to remove, because it looks like the voice the filter is protecting.

Virtual microphone A software input that appears in your call app as if it were a real microphone. The tool receives your real microphone, cleans the sound and passes the result on through the virtual one.

Latency The delay between a sound happening and the processed sound reaching the listener, measured in milliseconds. A live filter keeps latency low by deciding quickly, which costs some accuracy.

Sources

Both makers' pages were read on 8 October 2026. We tested neither. Checked 8 October 2026.

NVIDIA, Broadcast app. Lists system requirements of a GeForce RTX 2060, Quadro RTX 3000, TITAN RTX or higher. It does not say whether the app is free.
Krisp. States noise cancellation removes noise, echo and cross-talk, works with conferencing apps and a Chrome extension, offers a free sign-up with no limits listed, and has a mobile app without noise cancellation. It does not say where processing happens.

Neither page states audio quality figures, and neither says how the filter handles music or a second voice, so the hard-case advice in step five is method, not a maker claim.