How to Minimize Background Noise in Skype

I do not believe in the keep the mic open camp. I think you absolutely should be muting until it's your turn to talk. You can get inexpensive headsets which can greatly increase the quality and the clarity of what you're saying. There's an application that he discovered on the App Store a long time ago from Brett Terpstra called Shush, which takes a keyboard shortcut and makes it a cough button.