Google comes with a new Shazam-like feature that lets you hum, whistle or sings a song. The search engine will then look up the number for you.
It is an extension of existing systems that try to search for songs based on, for example, a sound patch. The feature is built into the Google Search app on mobile and should work for anyone using iOS in English, or Android in one of the 20 supported languages.
To look up a song, you will need to open the Google Search widget or the Google app and give access to your microphone.
Then click on the microphone icon and give your own undoubtedly brilliant performance of the song that is in your head. Once the song has been found, you can click through to information such as artist and lyrics.
According to Google, the advancement of its technology is that you should not have too great tone. Google gives a range of options of possible songs based on the melody it detects in your sounds.
The AI for this is trained on not only recorded music but also music that is sung, whistled or hummed, and should therefore be able to handle these different forms of reproduction, the tech giant writes in a blog post.
In essence, the algorithm was trained to reduce songs to a basic melody, a “fingerprint,” which ignores things like backing instruments and false notes.
Google is not alone in offering this type of service. An app like SoundHound has been able to recognize music that you hum for some time. However, by building the ability directly into the most extensive search app, Google does bring them to the general public.