Google Introduces Sound Search to Locate Songs Simply by Humming the Melody

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Google has now developed an advanced Artificial Intelligence system that can identify a song simply by picking up the tune of its humming. Users can just hum the tune of the song through the company’s search app and Google identifies the song. This coveted Sound Search feature is the latest addition to Google’s learning algorithms.

How to Use Sound Search?

Users have to open the Google app on their phones and tap on the mic button. This has to be followed by the user saying the words ‘Hey Google, what’s this song?’ or users can simply click the ‘Search a song’ button. Next, the song has to be hummed for 10-15 seconds. The exceptionality of this novel feature is that Google identifies the song even when the humming is completely off-key. The learning algorithm identifies the tune and lists the names of songs as potential matches. This feature also allows the user to select the correct song from the list and explore further information- like music label, singer, composer name, year of release- about it. The hummed melody is transformed by the AI into a numerical sequence that represents the melody of the song.  Song recognition is not limited to simply humming, it also includes studio recorded versions of songs as well as whistling. The machine learning algorithms work by washing out all other details like accompanying instruments and the timbre of the voice, to solely focus on the numerical sequence of the song to identify it.

Plans of Further Improvement

Google has rolled out this feature on both its iOS and android platforms. Android users can avail the feature in more than 20 languages, whereas for iOS users, this feature is currently only offered in English. Google promises to make the feature available in different languages over time.  Google’s Senior Product Manager, Krishna Kumar was quoted saying ‘we all know how frustrating it is when you can’t remember the name of a song or any of the words, but the tune is stuck in your head. Google can now help you figure it out- no lyrics, no artist name or perfect pitch required.’ He explained that the uniqueness of a song is stored in its melody. The melody of a song is as unique as human fingerprints. This is used by the AI to identify songs successful.