YouTube Tests Faster Way to Search for Songs by Humming Them
- Laurent Giret
- Aug 25, 2023
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Google is testing a new feature on YouTube that lets users search for songs by just humming them. The experimental feature is currently available for a small percentage of people using the YouTube app for Android, and the Shazam-like capability also works with recordings.
“If you’re in the experiment, you can toggle from YouTube voice search to the new song search feature, and hum or record the song you’re searching for for 3+ seconds in order for the song to be identified. Once the song is identified, you’ll be sent to relevant official music content, user- generated videos, and/or Shorts featuring the searched song in the YouTube app,” Google explained on a support page detailing the ongoing YouTube experiments.
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YouTube has a vast library of songs that anyone can access for free, and this feature may really help in the rare cases where you’re searching for a song you don’t know or forgot the title. That’s assuming you know how to sing or hum it properly.
Google confirmed to TechCrunch that the experimental YouTube feature leverages the same song-matching technology that Google previously added to its Google app, Google Assistant, and Google Search widget, except that the YouTube app can identify a song with just 3 seconds of humming instead of 15-20 seconds.
The YouTube team is currently running other experiments with machine learning and AI. A limited number of users may now see AI-generated video summaries on watch and search pages on YouTube to help them decide if a video is worth watching.