Hum to search. Google has added a new feature to its search tools that will let you hum, sing, or whistle that pesky song stuck in your head.
The days of typing misheard lyrics into the Google search engine are over. According to CNET people can now hum, whistle, or sing 10 to 15 seconds of a song into their phones to discover their new favourite tune. The software then uses artificial intelligence to try and match the recording to a database of songs.
Users can then select the best match and explore information on the song or artist such as accompanying music videos.
“When you hum a melody into search, our machine learning models transform the audio into a number-based sequence representing the song’s melody,” says Krishna Kuma, senior product manager for Google search.
The new feature is available today in the Google app on both iOS and Android or in Google Assistant in over 20 languages. The Verge reports that users just ask Google ‘What’s the song?’ or tap the newly added ‘search a song button’ and then hum the song bopping away in your peripheral.
The next generation of kids will never have to trawl through search engine results after they phonetically type the sound of a cool beat into a keyboard. And it won’t matter how badly you hum the song into your phone.
Amazingly. Google says the feature should still work even if the singer is tone-deaf. Companies such as Sound Hound use similar tools but none with the same platform Google boasts as the world’s most popular search engine. 90% of America’s online searches are processed on Google.
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The feature coincides with new tools which mean users can see how busy a park, restaurant, or other business is with live updates. Users will also be offered enhancements to augmented reality visuals tools for shopping and learning.
Check out Google’s ‘Hum to Search’ feature:
