What type of interference is a noise blanker circuit most effective in eliminating?

A noise blanker circuit is highly effective against specific types of electrical interference characterized by sharp, rapid spikes. This is known as short-duration impulse-type noise, commonly caused by spark plugs in internal combustion engines, electric fences, or lightning static. The blanker works by detecting the fast rise-time of the noise spike and briefly interrupting the receiver's signal path before the noise reaches the audio stage. Because the interruption is so incredibly short, the human ear usually doesn't notice the missing audio, but the loud pop is eliminated. Noise blankers are not effective against continuous wideband background noise (like static hiss), interfering signals on the same frequency, or signal distortion. For continuous background noise, features like DSP noise reduction or adjusting the RF gain are much more appropriate.