Acoustic monitoringMusic and sound

YAMNet

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.

Developer
Google, USA
First release
Nov 2019
Latest release
Sep 2026
Sizes
3.7M
License
Commercial use allowedApache 2.0
Ready-made builds
8-bit
Running
On your own serverAlso runs without a GPU
Industries
Security, Manufacturing and logistics, Software development, Media and production
Deploy on your server Hugging Face GitHub

What it does

  • Fast sound labelling right on the device
  • Detecting alarm sounds on a site
  • Picking interesting fragments out of a continuous recording
  • A base for your own classifier over a few classes

Where it is used

Site security and area monitoringManufacturing and engineering servicesEmbedded devices and IoTMedia

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. Обновление сборки Qualcomm AI Hub
  2. Сборка для мобильных и встраиваемых устройств (Qualcomm AI Hub)
  3. YAMNet в репозитории TensorFlow Models

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. Quantization compresses a model so it takes less video memory and runs on more modest hardware. Answers change slightly, so quality is checked on your own examples.

Frequently asked questions

Can YAMNet be used in a commercial project?

Yes. License: Apache 2.0. It allows commercial use, but it is still worth having a lawyer review the license before launch.

What hardware does YAMNet 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 YAMNet support Russian?

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

Where can I download YAMNet and what does it cost?

The YAMNet 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

Acoustic monitoringPANNsUniversity of Surrey · UKCommercial use allowed

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.

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.

DetailsMusic 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.

Details

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