Searching for Sound

Sony AI and Audiokinetic Inc. have announced a collaboration to launch a groundbreaking AI-powered audio-to-audio and text-to-audio search capability – the first of its kind to be available within a professional audio production tool, and specifically designed for sound effects.

Developed jointly by Sony AI and Audiokinetic, the new feature, known as Similar Sound Search, will be available in an upcoming beta release of Wwise, Audiokinetic’s flagship audio middleware solution for cross-platform interactive and spatial audio development.

The collaboration between Sony AI and Audiokinetic brings together cutting-edge research and industry-leading tools to support audio professionals across game development and interactive media. The search capability is powered by AI models trained on professionally licensed, professionally-created sound libraries, ensuring production-ready results. The sound libraries were provided by BOOM Library and Pro Sound Effects.

Unlike traditional keyword-based search tools, which rely on filenames or manually tagged metadata, Similar Sound Search leverages deep learning to analyze the audio itself to find matches based on sonic qualities like texture, tone, and rhythm. It allows sound designers to search for sounds using either a text description or a reference audio clip, removing the need for keyword tagging or time-consuming manual navigation through vast audio libraries. This enables creators to discover new, unexpected matches that would be difficult to find using conventional search methods. For example, a sound labeled “smashing fruit” might surface as a match for “footsteps in mud.”

“This collaboration represents a major step forward in how creators interact with sound,” said Yuki Mitsufuji, Lead Research Scientist, Sony AI and Distinguished Engineer, Sony Group Corporation. “We’re enabling audio professionals to find and design sound in a more intuitive and creative way. The improvements in finding sounds that accurately match the search and the ability to find sounds that perhaps would not have been considered offers a new depth of discovery for professional sound designers.”

“Our mission has always been to support the creative vision of sound designers and we believe this pioneering project with Sony AI supports new and innovative ways to fulfill that mission,” said Martin Dufour, CTO at Audiokinetic. “Having this feature integrated and easily available in Wwise will allow sound designers to not only find new sounds, but also to try them out in their game in a much faster and easier way than before.”

The AI-powered search capability will be available to all users as of the Wwise 2025.1 Beta 2, with more information available at https://www.audiokinetic.com/en/blog/ or audiokinetic.com/solutions/use-of-ai.