pipecat-hecttor

Hecttor speech enhancement audio filter for Pipecat.

HecttorFilter is an input audio filter that removes background noise from the user's audio in real time using the Hecttor SDK's ASR-optimized speech enhancer. It runs before audio reaches the STT service, improving transcription accuracy in noisy environments. You can choose among several enhancement models and blend the enhanced output with the original audio.

This integration is maintained by Saima AI, the company behind Hecttor.

Installation

Install the package:

uv add pipecat-hecttor

The filter requires the hecttor_sdk Python package, which is not published to PyPI. Contact Hecttor for SDK access and an API key — you'll receive a wheel for your platform and Python version:

pip install hecttor_sdk-<version>-<python>-<platform>.whl

Set your API key:

export HECTTOR_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Usage

Add the filter to any Pipecat transport via the audio_in_filter parameter:

from pipecat_hecttor import HecttorFilter
from pipecat.transports.base_transport import TransportParams

params = TransportParams(
    audio_in_enabled=True,
    audio_in_filter=HecttorFilter(),
    audio_out_enabled=True,
)

Configuration

Runtime toggle

Disable and re-enable denoising at runtime with Pipecat's FilterEnableFrame:

from pipecat.frames.frames import FilterEnableFrame

await worker.queue_frame(FilterEnableFrame(False))  # disable
await worker.queue_frame(FilterEnableFrame(True))  # re-enable

Running the example

examples/voice-hecttor.py is a complete voice bot with Hecttor denoising, Deepgram STT, OpenAI LLM, and Cartesia TTS.

1. Install the example's dependencies:

   uv add pipecat-hecttor "pipecat-ai[deepgram,cartesia,openai,silero,webrtc,runner]"
   

2. Install the hecttor_sdk wheel (see Installation).

3. Create a .env file with your keys:

   HECTTOR_API_KEY=...
   DEEPGRAM_API_KEY=...
   OPENAI_API_KEY=...
   CARTESIA_API_KEY=...
   

4. Run the bot and open the printed URL in your browser:

   python examples/voice-hecttor.py
   

Testing the filter offline

scripts/test_hecttor_filter_audiofile.py runs the filter over a pre-recorded audio file so you can compare original and enhanced audio:

uv add soundfile
python scripts/test_hecttor_filter_audiofile.py input.wav output.wav

It reports the realtime factor and before/after audio statistics.

Compatibility

Tested with Pipecat v1.7.0.

Pipecat evolves rapidly; if you hit a compatibility issue with a newer release, please open an issue.

License

BSD 2-Clause — see LICENSE.