The Sound Of Silence was released as a single by Rupert & David, a folk-based duo consisting of Rupert Hine and David MacIver. They recorded the side on December 15, 1965, so it is conceivable that a single could be recorded, mastered, etc., and released before the end of the year, but it is unlikely.From the top horizontal menu in Audacity, click on "Effects", and then from the drop down menu select, "Truncate Silence" This is the options dialog for the Truncate Silence feature in Audacity. After pressing the "OK" button it can be seen that the silent part of the recording, indicated by the waveform shown on the track, has been removed.
The new length of the silence will be comprised of 2 seconds (the ignored duration) plus half (50%) of any additional silence. Example: With the above settings, for an 8 second silence, there are 6 seconds beyond the 2 second detection period: The 8 second silence will therefore be reduced to 2 seconds plus 50% of 6 seconds, that is 2 + 3 = 5