I've been really hesitant to do this but finally got around to it. I bought the standard Throttle body cleaner from advance. I thought the idea of sticking my hands inside the TB with a rag wasn't the best one.. Instead I used q tips (with the tb cleaner sprayed on them) to first clean the area around the butterfly. then i sprayed a small bit of tb cleaner directly around the edges of the butterfly (with it closed!!) i then repeated step on and then (from what i understand this is only good for 00-01 so i dont recommend it for 02-03) i maunually moved the butterfly NOT BY TOUCHING THE ACTUAL BUTTERFLY but by pulling on the throttle cable. I then sprayed some more tb cleaner on some q tips and cleaned the edges and as much of the butterfly and inside of the tb as possible. I then let the tb close and wiped up any excess. Using the q tips did take a while but i think it was worth playing it safe.

after my first test drive i notice quite a bit less interior engine noise (i had a persistent whine) and a more consistent sound

You realize that on an 01 it is safe to remove the entire throttle body and clean it, right?

I do it all the time on mine and never had a problem. 02-03's TB's are the one you want to worry about.