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no more earworms!
By Megan Hatch — Written on Oct 16, 2020
Ever have a song in your head but you can't for the life of you remember any of the words? You're in luck — now you can find a song by humming it right to Google.
This is such a common struggle that there are many variations of the same meme:
You have a song stuck in your head for days — maybe even weeks — and there's no way you can think to search for it without being able to hum it into Google.
Well, lucky for us, Google Hum to Search has answered our desperate pleas.
How to use Google Hum to Search
Google has adapted its voice search to help you find a song by humming. By humming the song that’s been bugging you for days most likely, you’ll be able to find within minutes the song that you can’t stop humming.
Google knows how frustrating it can be for all of us when we can’t seem to figure out what song we are humming in our heads. We learned this yesterday when Google hosted a live stream titled Google “Search On,” which was an event hosted both on YouTube and on the official Search On website that Google created to introduce the developments with their AI technology for 2020.
So, you don’t even have to worry about having no lyrics, knowing the artist's name, or having perfect pitch while humming. Google can do the job, tone-deaf or not.
The new Google song search is currently available on your iOS device, however, only in English. On Android devices, this feature is available in more than 20 languages. Google says that they, “hope to expand this to more languages in the future.”
1. Download the Google search app.
On your smartphone, you can download the Google search app or use the Google search widget on the iPhone. If you have a Google phone, you can use your Google assistant for this.
2. Tap on the mic icon and ask “what song is this?”
You can also click on the button, “Search a song.” If you’re using Google assistant, ask “Hey Google, what’s this song?”
3. Start humming!
Hum your song into the microphone for at least ten to fifteen seconds for Google to try and figure out what it is. The same goes for using Google assistant.
4. Browse Google's song results.
After Google picks up the tune of the song, you can select the best match to the song and explore the information provided about the artist and the song. You can also view any music video for the song and listen to it on your favorite music streaming app.
According to Google, each song has its specific fingerprint and its own identity. When you hum a song, Google's algorithm can match that hum or whistle to the correct “fingerprint.”
The melody of the song is then turned into a number-based-sequence which represents the song's melody and Google trails it back to the original song.
Pretty cool, right? So no more need to stress and hum for days in your head, just sing a little song to Google and never deal with an earworm again.
Megan Hatch is a writer at YourTango who covers pop culture, entertainment news, and zodiac.