diff --git a/screenpipe-audio/src/lib.rs b/screenpipe-audio/src/lib.rs
index e2f09087..1cc31fa5 100644
--- a/screenpipe-audio/src/lib.rs
+++ b/screenpipe-audio/src/lib.rs
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ mod core;
 mod multilingual;
 pub mod pcm_decode;
 pub mod stt;
+pub mod vad_engine;
 pub use core::{
     default_input_device, default_output_device, list_audio_devices, parse_audio_device,
     record_and_transcribe, AudioDevice, AudioTranscriptionEngine, DeviceControl, DeviceType
diff --git a/screenpipe-audio/src/stt.rs b/screenpipe-audio/src/stt.rs
index 54705506..9668cf6d 100644
--- a/screenpipe-audio/src/stt.rs
+++ b/screenpipe-audio/src/stt.rs
@@ -17,7 +17,12 @@ use rubato::{
     Resampler, SincFixedIn, SincInterpolationParameters, SincInterpolationType, WindowFunction,
 };
 
-use crate::{multilingual, pcm_decode::pcm_decode, AudioTranscriptionEngine};
+use crate::{
+    multilingual,
+    pcm_decode::pcm_decode,
+    vad_engine::{SileroVad, VadEngine, VadEngineEnum, WebRtcVad},
+    AudioTranscriptionEngine,
+};
 
 use webrtc_vad::{Vad, VadMode};
 
@@ -719,6 +724,7 @@ pub struct TranscriptionResult {
 }
 pub async fn create_whisper_channel(
     audio_transcription_engine: Arc<AudioTranscriptionEngine>,
+    vad_engine: VadEngineEnum,
 ) -> Result<(
     UnboundedSender<AudioInput>,
     UnboundedReceiver<TranscriptionResult>,
@@ -732,7 +738,10 @@ pub async fn create_whisper_channel(
         UnboundedSender<TranscriptionResult>,
         UnboundedReceiver<TranscriptionResult>,
     ) = unbounded_channel();
-
+    let mut vad_engine: Box<dyn VadEngine> = match vad_engine {
+        VadEngineEnum::WebRtc => Box::new(WebRtcVad::new()),
+        VadEngineEnum::Silero => Box::new(SileroVad::new().unwrap()),
+    };
     tokio::spawn(async move {
         loop {
             tokio::select! {
@@ -742,7 +751,7 @@ pub async fn create_whisper_channel(
                         .expect("Time went backwards")
                         .as_secs();
 
-                    let transcription_result = match stt(&input.path, &whisper_model, audio_transcription_engine.clone()) {
+                    let transcription_result = match stt(&input.path, &whisper_model, audio_transcription_engine.clone(), &mut *vad_engine) {
                         Ok(transcription) => TranscriptionResult {
                             input: input.clone(),
                             transcription: Some(transcription),
diff --git a/screenpipe-audio/src/vad_engine.rs b/screenpipe-audio/src/vad_engine.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8c2cb5cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/screenpipe-audio/src/vad_engine.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+use anyhow::Result;
+use candle::{Device, Tensor};
+use candle_nn::VarBuilder;
+use hf_hub::{api::sync::Api, Repo, RepoType};
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+
+pub enum VadEngineEnum {
+    WebRtc,
+    Silero,
+}
+
+pub trait VadEngine {
+    fn is_voice_segment(&mut self, audio_chunk: &[i16]) -> Result<bool>;
+}
+
+pub struct WebRtcVad(webrtc_vad::Vad);
+
+impl WebRtcVad {
+    pub fn new() -> Self {
+        let mut vad = webrtc_vad::Vad::new();
+        vad.set_mode(webrtc_vad::VadMode::Quality);
+        Self(vad)
+    }
+}
+
+impl VadEngine for WebRtcVad {
+    fn is_voice_segment(&mut self, audio_chunk: &[i16]) -> Result<bool> {
+        self.0.is_voice_segment(audio_chunk).map_err(Into::into)
+    }
+}
+
+pub struct SileroVad {
+    model: candle_nn::Module,
+    device: Device,
+}
+
+impl SileroVad {
+    pub fn new() -> Result<Self> {
+        let device = Device::Cpu;
+        let repo = Repo::with_revision(
+            "snakers4/silero-vad".to_string(),
+            RepoType::Model,
+            "master".to_string(),
+        );
+        let api = Api::new()?;
+        let api = api.repo(repo);
+        let model_path: PathBuf = api.get("silero_vad.onnx")?;
+
+        let vb = VarBuilder::from_onnx(model_path, &device)?;
+        let model = candle_nn::Module::new(vb)?;
+
+        Ok(Self { model, device })
+    }
+
+    fn preprocess_audio(&self, audio_chunk: &[i16]) -> anyhow::Result<Tensor> {
+        let float_chunk: Vec<f32> = audio_chunk.iter().map(|&x| x as f32 / 32768.0).collect();
+        Tensor::from_vec(float_chunk, (1, audio_chunk.len()), &self.device)
+    }
+}
+
+impl VadEngine for SileroVad {
+    fn is_voice_segment(&mut self, audio_chunk: &[i16]) -> Result<bool> {
+        let input = self.preprocess_audio(audio_chunk)?;
+        let output = self.model.forward(&input)?;
+        let probability = output.squeeze(0)?.squeeze(0)?.to_vec1::<f32>()?[0];
+
+        // You may need to adjust this threshold based on your specific use case
+        const VOICE_THRESHOLD: f32 = 0.5;
+        Ok(probability > VOICE_THRESHOLD)
+    }
+}
+
+pub fn create_vad_engine(engine: VadEngineEnum) -> Result<Box<dyn VadEngine>> {
+    match engine {
+        VadEngineEnum::WebRtc => Ok(Box::new(WebRtcVad::new())),
+        VadEngineEnum::Silero => Ok(Box::new(SileroVad::new()?)),
+    }
+}
diff --git a/screenpipe-server/src/cli.rs b/screenpipe-server/src/cli.rs
index b59e97a5..cb2f6ec6 100644
--- a/screenpipe-server/src/cli.rs
+++ b/screenpipe-server/src/cli.rs
@@ -50,6 +50,23 @@ impl From<CliOcrEngine> for CoreOcrEngine {
     }
 }
 
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, ValueEnum, PartialEq)]
+pub enum CliVadEngine {
+    #[clap(name = "webrtc")]
+    WebRtc,
+    #[clap(name = "silero")]
+    Silero,
+}
+
+impl From<CliVadEngine> for VadEngineEnum {
+    fn from(cli_engine: CliVadEngine) -> Self {
+        match cli_engine {
+            CliVadEngine::WebRtc => VadEngineEnum::WebRtc,
+            CliVadEngine::Silero => VadEngineEnum::Silero,
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 #[derive(Parser)]
 #[command(
     author, 
@@ -151,4 +168,8 @@ pub struct Cli {
     /// Restart recording process every X minutes (0 means no periodic restart)
     #[arg(long, default_value_t = 0)]
     pub restart_interval: u64,
+
+    /// VAD engine to use for speech detection
+    #[arg(long, value_enum, default_value_t = CliVadEngine::WebRtc)]
+    pub vad_engine: CliVadEngine,
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/screenpipe-server/src/core.rs b/screenpipe-server/src/core.rs
index 028e89ca..a9fc6af7 100644
--- a/screenpipe-server/src/core.rs
+++ b/screenpipe-server/src/core.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+use crate::cli::CliVadEngine;
 use crate::{DatabaseManager, VideoCapture};
 use anyhow::Result;
 use chrono::Utc;
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ pub async fn start_continuous_recording(
     friend_wearable_uid: Option<String>,
     monitor_id: u32,
     use_pii_removal: bool,
+    vad_engine: CliVadEngine,
 ) -> Result<()> {
     let (whisper_sender, whisper_receiver) = if audio_disabled {
         // Create a dummy channel if no audio devices are available, e.g. audio disabled
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ pub async fn start_continuous_recording(
         ) = unbounded_channel();
         (input_sender, output_receiver)
     } else {
-        create_whisper_channel(audio_transcription_engine.clone()).await?
+        create_whisper_channel(audio_transcription_engine.clone(), vad_engine).await?
     };
     let db_manager_video = Arc::clone(&db);
     let db_manager_audio = Arc::clone(&db);