Acoustic monitoringMusic and sound

PANNs

The classic set of convolutional networks that label sound across the 527 AudioSet categories, from machinery noise and alarms to breaking glass and screams. The system does not make a diagnosis, it gives you a reason to check the unit before it fails. A microphone can also capture people voices, which is personal data, so check the procedure with a lawyer.

Developer
University of Surrey, UK
First release
Dec 2019
Latest release
Jun 2026
Sizes
from 5.9M (CNN6) to 81.9M (CNN14)
License
Commercial use allowedMIT
Running
On your own serverAlso runs without a GPU
Industries
Manufacturing and logistics, Security, Media and production, Science and research
Deploy on your server Hugging Face GitHub

What it does

  • Labelling what is happening in a microphone recording
  • Detecting alarms, breaking glass, screams
  • A base for your own model tuned to one shop floor
  • Going through an archive of recordings

Where it is used

Manufacturing and equipment maintenanceSite security and area monitoringMedia and audio archive analysisResearch

Hardware requirements

LaptopLaptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions
fits
1 GPUOne GPU with 16–80 GB — mid-size versions
no versions
ClusterServer with several GPUs — flagship versions
no versions

Versions

  1. Сборка CNN14 для мобильных устройств (LiteRT)
  2. Зеркала на Hugging Face в формате safetensors
  3. PANNs, первые веса CNN6, CNN10, CNN14 и другие

How to run it

On your own serverWeights are downloaded from Hugging Face and served with vLLM (load and API) or llama.cpp (modest hardware). The model then runs in a closed network with no per-request fees.Hugging Face
How much hardware you needCalculate the VRAM for the model size, context length and number of concurrent requests.Open the hardware calculator

I can set this up end to end: pick the model size, deploy it on your server and connect it to your systems.

Frequently asked questions

Can PANNs be used in a commercial project?

Yes. License: MIT. It allows commercial use, but it is still worth having a lawyer review the license before launch.

What hardware does PANNs need?

At minimum: Laptop or regular PC, up to 8 GB of VRAM — smaller versions. Some versions also run on an ordinary CPU, without a GPU. You can calculate the exact VRAM for your model size and context in the hardware calculator.

Does PANNs support Russian?

Language does not matter for this model: it does not work with text.

Where can I download PANNs and what does it cost?

The PANNs weights are open and free to download. You only pay for the hardware it runs on and for the setup. Source links are at the bottom of this page.

How I deploy it for clients

  1. SelectionI pick the model size for your task and hardware and test it on your examples.
  2. DeploymentI deploy it on your server or in a closed network and provide an API.
  3. Fine-tuningI fine-tune it on your data (LoRA) or connect a knowledge base — whichever is cheaper for the task.
  4. IntegrationI connect it to your CRM, ERP, bot, website or team chat and set up monitoring.

Similar models

Music and soundAST (Audio Spectrogram Transformer)MIT · USACommercial use allowed

A classic 2021 sound recognition model: detects 527 AudioSet event classes (siren, barking, breaking glass, music). Lightweight, runs without a GPU, in Transformers since 2022.

DetailsAcoustic monitoringCEDXiaomi · ChinaCommercial use allowed

Compact sound-labelling models from 5.5M to 86M, with ONNX and INT8 builds that run on an ordinary CPU and on a board next to the equipment. The system does not make a diagnosis, it gives you a reason to check the unit before it fails.

DetailsAcoustic monitoringYAMNetGoogle · USACommercial use allowed

A tiny model covering 521 sound events, including alarms, breaking glass and screams: it fits on a microcontroller and runs without a GPU. A microphone can capture people voices, which is personal data, so check the procedure with a lawyer.

Details

Source: huggingface.co/nicofarr/panns_Cnn14. Data checked against the model card on 22 Sep 2026. Have a lawyer review the license before commercial launch.