Command line utility to detect sound

[NickRob]

Hi

I would like to find a command line utility that will detect sound above a certain volume and do something like terminate with a status or issue a signal that can be trapped by another process. I haven't been able to find anything, but using the words sound and detection together in google leads inexorably to sound card detection!

Alternatively, which library/app would be the best one to start with if I need to adapt something? I'm an experienced programmer, but not with sound.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Nick