Is it possible to automate the elimination of hum and/or distortion in digital audio files?
In other words, feed a file to a software that analyzes it and judges what is hum and/or, removes it, and outputs the result into a new file, all without direct human intervention.
Depends on what sort of result you want. Sure you can analyze whether a file contains more than a reasonable amount of 50Hz or 60Hz and you can notch that out, but the problem with this approach is that every file is likely to be different and will require the attention of someone with the requisite skills in order to be able to get the best result. If you don't use human auditioning for this purpose, you are likely to result in a file that has processing artefacts and spectral damage.
Distortion in the form of clipping would be very difficult to remove: the waveform has been altered, and information on the missing part of the waveform has been lost.
