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A product detector is specifically designed to extract the modulated signal from a single sideband (SSB) transmission. In SSB, one side of the carrier frequency is suppressed, meaning that when the signal is received, it needs to be reconstructed to be intelligible. The product detector accomplishes this by mixing the incoming SSB signal with a locally generated carrier frequency, effectively demodulating the signal. This process allows the original audio signal (or the information conveyed by the modulation) to be recovered so that it can be processed and amplified for listening.

In contrast, amplifying a signal is not the primary function of the product detector; that would typically be handled by an amplifier stage later in the receiver chain. Generating the carrier frequency is a role played by the local oscillator, not the product detector. Lastly, filtering noise pertains to cleaning up the signal rather than extracting the modulated information, which is the main purpose of the product detector.