Google Search can now find the name of a song simply by listening to you hum or whistle the tune.
On Thursday, the company unveiled the “hum to search” feature, which is currently available on the Google app and the Google voice assistant. No lyrics, artist name or correct pitch is needed to use the search capability. Simply hum, whistle or sing the melody as best as possible for 10 to 15 seconds. Google’s algorithms will then display the songs that most closely match with your audio recording.
You can then click on a displayed song, which will cause Google to bring up the associated music video and lyrics.
The feature is a handy tool for when you’ve just heard a song you like, but don’t know the name or the exact lyrics. PCMag tested out the new search capability, and Google was able to accurately identify our humming and whistling for songs including Michael Jackson’s “Billy Jean” and Charlie Puth’s “We Don’t Talk Anymore.”
According to Google, every song’s melody is similar to a fingerprint in that it has its own unique pattern. So when you hum a tune, you’re essentially providing the rough outlines to the song’s fingerprint, which Google can then match to the official song.
The technology builds on the company’s existing algorithms, which can identify a song simply by hearing a snippet of the tune. Google has now improved the algorithms so that they can pinpoint a song without listening to the lyrics or even the original beat.
“Our models are trained to identify songs based on a variety of sources, including humans singing, whistling or humming, as well as studio recordings,” the company wrote in today’s announcement. “The algorithms also take away all the other details, like accompanying instruments and the voice’s timbre and tone. What we’re left with is the song’s number-based sequence, or the fingerprint.”
Google isn’t alone in providing online song searching via humming. But the company’s feature works pretty fast, and is conveniently bundled with the Google Assistant, making it easy to access.
The feature is currently available for more than 20 languages on Android. Google has also rolled it out for English language users on iOS.
To use it, Google says: “On your mobile device, open the latest version of the Google app or find your Google Search widget, tap the mic icon and say ‘what’s this song?’ or click the ‘Search a song’ button.”
“On Google Assistant, it’s just as simple. Say ‘Hey Google, what’s this song?’ and then hum the tune,” the company added.
