Both PocketCast and Overcast have this feature. I don’t think remove silence works on videos in PocketCasts, but they’re still pretty natural sounding at 1.5x. Sorry it took so long to get a reply 
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Because it can be a bit difficult to find the right options in Podcast Republic (Android), I’ll mention that to get the skip silence option you start playing the file then tap on the album art in the player bar, or pull down the notification shade and click on the album art in the player there. This opens the Now Playing display. Click on the three dots at lower right to open the menu, then Audio Effects and Equalizer, then set the Skip Silence toggle.
Speed is in a totally different place - in the app, slide in the left side menu, then choose Settings - Media Player - Playback Speed.
I don’t actually use either setting but thought it was worth noting in case anyone else uses the app.
Subscribe to all video if available. Listen to audio and switch to video when I feel it necessary while away from home. Having that option is nice. When home, play video on my iPad