diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 47c9cc6..70ad057 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ __pycache__/
 # macOS dir files
 .DS_Store
 
+dict
 exp
 data
 raw_wav
diff --git a/tools/trim_sil.sh b/tools/trim_sil.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..84544d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/trim_sil.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# trim silence of keywords wav files at both sides, while fillers are left intact
+
+nj=8
+. tools/parse_options.sh || exit 1;
+
+inscp=$1
+text=$2 # text files that map wav ids to labels
+outdir=$3
+indir=$(dirname ${inscp})
+
+if [ $# -eq 4 ]; then
+  logdir=$4
+else
+  logdir=${indir}/log
+fi
+
+mkdir -p ${logdir}
+rm -f $logdir/wav_*.slice
+rm -f $logdir/wav_*.shape
+
+pasted_scp=$logdir/pasted_scp.tmp
+paste -d ' ' $inscp $text > $pasted_scp
+split --additional-suffix .slice -d -n l/$nj $pasted_scp $logdir/wav_
+rm -f $pasted_scp
+
+if [ -n "$outdir" ]; then
+  echo "trimming silence in <$inscp>"
+  mkdir -p $outdir
+fi
+
+trim_dir=$(realpath $outdir)
+trim_count=0
+total_count=0
+# trimmed empty files are logged to this scp
+empty_scp=$indir/empty_wav.scp
+echo -n '' > $empty_scp
+trim_scp=$indir/trim_wav.scp
+echo -n '' > $trim_scp
+
+shopt -s nullglob
+for slice in "$logdir"/wav_*.slice; do
+{
+  while read -r line; do
+    IFS=' ' read -ra arr <<< "$line"
+    if [ ${#arr[@]} -ne 4 ] || [ "${arr[0]}" != "${arr[2]}" ]; then
+      echo "the \"paste($1 $2)\" expects 4 entries at each line: \"id1 path id2 label\" (id1 == id2)"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+    wav_id=${arr[0]}
+    wav_file=$(basename ${arr[1]})
+    label=${arr[3]}
+    # assume fillers' labels are -1, keywords' labels are positive integers
+    if [ "$label" -gt "-1" ]; then
+      # trim silence, which is less than 1% amplitude, until encounters non-sil that is at least 0.1s
+      # NOTE, silence is trimmed to be at most 50ms long (not completely removed)
+      sox ${arr[1]} ${trim_dir}/${wav_file} silence -l 1 0.1 1% -1 0.05 1% reverse silence -l 1 0.1 1% -1 0.05 1% reverse
+      fs=$(stat -c '%s' ${trim_dir}/${wav_file})
+      if [ "$fs" -le "44" ]; then
+        echo "${trim_dir}/${wav_file} is empty after silence-trimming, please check its validity"
+        echo "$wav_id ${trim_dir}/${wav_file} $label" >> $empty_scp
+      else
+        echo "$wav_id ${trim_dir}/${wav_file} $label" >> $trim_scp
+      fi
+      trim_count=$(($trim_count+1))
+    else
+      # fillers are not trimmed and softly linked to save disk spaces
+      [ ! -f ${trim_dir}/${wav_file} ] && ln -s ${arr[1]} ${trim_dir}/${wav_file}
+      echo "$wav_id ${trim_dir}/${wav_file} $label" >> $trim_scp
+    fi
+    total_count=$((total_count+1))
+    [ $(($total_count % 100)) -eq 0 ] && echo -ne "job id:$BASHPID is working, ${trim_count}/${total_count} wavs are trimmed\r"
+  done < $slice
+} &
+done
+
+wait
+cp $inscp $indir/wav_before_trim.scp
+echo "the previous <$inscp> is renamed to <wav-no-trim.scp>"
+mv $trim_scp $indir/wav.scp
+echo "the new <$indir/wav.scp> now refers to trimmed wav files"
+echo "${trim_count}/${total_count} wav files are trimmed"
+echo ""