Unknown Song Stuck In Your Head? Hum It To Google. - Mashable

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If you've ever had a song stuck in your head but didn't know the words or the artist, you know it can be an all-consuming mission to name that tune.

You're hard-pressed to search for it when all you know is the chorus goes something like, "Hmmm, hmm, hmm-hmmm, dunnnn..." Yeah, that's not searchable.

But as of Thursday, Google added a "hum to search" feature on its mobile apps. At its virtual Search On event highlighting updates to its search engine, Google execs showed how a few seconds of humming or whistling can turn up real results.

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On an iOS or Android device you can use the Google app, Search widget, or Google Assistant and ask, "What's this song?" and start humming. There's also a "Search a song" button, so click that and then start humming.

The Google app is able to detect the song just by its melody — no lyrics or pitch-perfect singing required. I tried it out with a Spice Girls hit through the Google app on an iPhone and it came back with the correct result:

Hum that song to Google. Credit: sasha lekach / mashable Only 45 percent, but accurate! Credit: sasha lekach / mashable

Many years ago, song detector apps like SoundHound could also identify a song from a few seconds of humming or off-tune singing. But these days if you open Shazam or a similar audio detection app and hum, say, "Barbie Girl" by Aqua (it was a 1997 classic), it doesn't bring up any results.

SEE ALSO: Shazam is coming to iPhone's control panel soon

With the new Google search function that earworm isn't going anywhere, but at least you'll know what's torturing you.

Topics Artificial Intelligence Music

Sasha Lekach

Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.

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