Google introduces ‘Hum’ feature to search for songs you can’t remember

October 23, 2020

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It happens all the time — you’re soaking up the vibes of any one of the immaculate stages at Electric Forest, it’s three in the morning and the DJ performs a fat tune that you are dying to ID, only to be lost again amongst the barrage of gravity-defying transitions and new unreleased tracks. Well, lucky enough for music listeners across the globe, Google is introducing their shiny new ‘Hum to Search’ feature so users can now whistle, sing, and hum (or hopefully make ‘wub’ sounds) to discover new and forgotten music.

The feature has been introduced to Android and iPhones alike and is powered by the platform’s AI Research tech-wizardry that utilize unique algorithms for music recognition. Google describes how to utilize the new feature on their blog:

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. Then start humming for 10-15 seconds.
On Google Assistant, it’s just as simple. Say Hey Google, what’s this song? and then hum the tune. This feature is currently available in English on iOS, and in more than 20 languages on Android. And we hope to expand this to more languages in the future.”

As of the time of writing, the new feature in Google cannot recognize tracks like SVDDEN DEATH’s “Behemoth,” but music fans can only hope the technology progresses to the point where it can pick up their favorite electronic songs, which all-too-often come without lyrics. That is, if one can even accurately mimic the sound design in their voice.