How to search a song just by humming voice

Due to the most recent development by the multinational technology company Google, its users will be able to search a song by merely humming the tone to its search. It looks as though Google realises how frustrating it can be when you can’t remember the name of a song or any of the lyrics but the tune is kind of stuck in your head.

On October 15, Google announced this latest tech development by the company on its official blog, in an article written by Krishna Kumar, Senior Product Manager at Google Search. Read on to know more about this feature.

Hum to Search your song on Google

According to a blog titled “Song stuck in your head? Just hum to search” on Google’s official blog, for this feature, the user is not required to either know the lyrics or the artist’s name, they can just hum, whistle or sing a melody to Google. The user can open the latest version of the Google app or find your Google Search widget, tap the mic icon and say, “what's this song?” They can also click the “Search a song” button and then start humming for 10-15 seconds.

If one is trying to access this feature on Google Assistant, they need to say, “Hey Google, what’s this song?” and then hum the tune. This riveting feature is currently available in English on iOS, and in more than 20 languages on Android. Google also stated that engineers at the company are working to expand this feature to more languages.

After the user is finished humming, Google’s machine learning algorithm will help them in identifying the potential song matches. The user need not worry about having the perfect pitch while humming. A list of three to four songs will appear as options based on the pitch. Then the user can select the best match and explore all other information on the song and artist, and also view any accompanying music videos or listen to the song itself on their favourite music app. They can also find the lyrics and read reviews analysis.

How do the machines learn melodies?

Google has stated in its blog, that song’s melody is like fingerprints for its machines, meaning they each have their own unique identity. Hence, there are learning models, built for machines that match the user’s hum or whistle to the right ‘fingerprint.’ When the user will hum a melody into Search, Google’s machine learning models will transform the audio into a number-based sequence representing the song’s melody.

Google’s machines are trained to identify songs based on a wide variety of sources, these include humans singing, whistling or humming, and studio recordings as well. In fact, the algorithms also take away all the other details of the song such as the accompanying instruments and the voice's timbre and tone. In the end, all that is left is the song’s number-based sequence or the fingerprint.

Google Can Now Identify a Song by Your Humming

I remember the first time someone showed me the Shazam app, which can listen to a song and instantly tell you its title and artist. I probably wouldn’t have reacted much differently if someone had showed me a working time machine. It felt like something out of The Jetsons. This was it! The future! Obviously that technology seems quaint now. But I’m still a big goober, so Google’s newest function has me way, way too excited. Google can now tell you the name of a song just from listening to you hum it.

And you don’t even have to be any good at humming for it to work.

Google has announced (in news we first heard about at The Verge) that it can now identify a song from your humming. Using either the most recent version of the Google app or the Google Search widget on your mobile device, tap the mic icon and say, “What’s this song?” Or you can click the “Search a song” button. Then, for 10 to 15 seconds, hum that random song that’s been trapped in your brain for weeks. You can also use Google Assistant to find it. Ask, “Hey Google, what’s this song?” and hum. Then Google gets to work, even if you’re off-key.

“After you’re finished humming, our machine learning algorithm helps identify potential song matches. And don’t worry, you don’t need perfect pitch to use this feature. We’ll show you the most likely options based on the tune. Then you can select the best match and explore information on the song and artist, view any accompanying music videos or listen to the song on your favorite music app, find the lyrics, read analysis and even check out other recordings of the song when available.”

Google’s machine learning models matches your hum, whistle, or singing to the song’s melody. Your hum is then transformed into a number-based sequence and the model is trained to “identify songs based on a variety of sources, including humans singing, whistling or humming, as well as studio recordings.” The algorithms also pull from other details, including “accompanying instruments and the voice’s timbre and tone.” Google then gives you the most likely candidates. Hopefully from there you can identify the song that refuses to stop playing in your head.

This feature is currently available in English on iOS in more than 20 languages on Android. Google is hoping to expand to more languages “in the future.” Ah, the future. Which once again, thanks to music-identifying technology, feels so promising. A future where I’m still a big goober with an earworm problem.