Removing a cough or a long interruption can leave a gap between two useful sentences. If the gap becomes absolute silence while the rest of the recording contains room sound, the listener may notice the edit immediately.
Choose a matching source
Use room tone from the same microphone, room and part of the session. A sample from another guest's track may have a different noise level and character. Listen closely for small sounds inside the sample, such as a chair movement or a distant word.
Place only as much tone as the pause needs. If the available sample is short, do not create an obvious repeating pattern. Look elsewhere in the source for a cleaner natural pause before repeating the same noise many times.
Use gentle transitions at the edges where the editor supports them. Then listen from several seconds before the edit through the next full sentence.
Keep the timing believable
The new pause should fit the speaker's thought. A dramatic answer may need more room than a quick list. Do not choose the pause length only by how neatly the waveform fits the screen.
Compare the edit with the source so you know what changed. Confirm that no word ending or intake of breath was removed by mistake. After a series of repairs, play the whole paragraph to check that the rhythm still feels natural.
Keep the original recording and the room-tone sample in the project archive. Label the sample clearly. This makes it easier to revisit the transition when the host asks for a longer pause or when the episode structure changes later.