In the evolving landscape of sound design, the question is no longer whether AI will be part of the workflow; it’s how it will help sound professionals be more creative, more efficient, and more empowered.
That’s why we’re proud to announce a new partnership between Pro Sound Effects, Sony AI, and Audiokinetic, combining cutting-edge research, real-world implementation, and the power of high-quality sound data to advance search tools for sound designers.
This collaboration introduces an advanced AI-powered search technology developed by Sony AI, a division of Sony Research Inc., using PSE’s audio dataset, and now integrated into Audiokinetic’s Wwise, in the form of an opt-in feature: Similar Sound Search.
This initiative started in Sony AI’s R&D labs, where Research Scientist Gaetan Hadjeres and his team explored how large-scale audio data could unlock smarter, faster, more intuitive ways to search for sound. Using PSE’s diverse sound library and structured metadata, Sony AI trained a novel AI model capable of understanding the meaning behind sounds.
“We needed datasets that not only had sonic diversity but also high-quality metadata and structure,” says Hadjeres. “PSE’s data enabled us to train models that understand the intent of a sound, helping creators find what they need based on concept, not just keywords.”
While Sony AI handled the research and prototyping, Audiokinetic brought this technology to life in Wwise, one of the industry’s leading interactive audio engines. The result is Similar Sound Search, a smarter sound search experience built into the tools game audio teams use every day. Find out more about how Similar Sound Search works and how it came to be in Sony AI’s blog post and Audiokinetic’s blog post.
This collaboration demonstrates how data from PSE can power innovation that supports sound designers, not replaces them.
As fears around generative AI and automation loom over creative industries, this partnership stands as a real-world example of how quality, private datasets can enable tools that enhance human creativity. Instead of attempting to “automate” the sound designer, this AI helps them work faster and think bigger, making it possible to search quickly through cluttered libraries and spark creative ideas while reducing friction.
“This is a perfect example of how powerful PSE data is and how we want it to be used,” says Douglas Price, PSE Founder & CEO. “We are here to help partners build tools that genuinely improve the day-to-day of sound designers – tools that make the craft more inspiring, more creative, less tedious, and ultimately more powerful.”
“This is a perfect example of how powerful PSE data is and how we want it to be used.”
For AI to serve creators well, the foundation must be strong. Sony AI and Audiokinetic chose PSE because our datasets offer:
As Hakim Missoum, Strategy & Partnerships Manager at Sony AI, puts it:
“We sought out Pro Sound Effects not only for the quality and scale of their audio datasets, but also for their creativity and flexibility in structuring a partnership that could evolve from research to commercial implementation. That combination made them the ideal partner to explore intelligent sound search at the cutting edge.”
This partnership marks an exciting first step toward making Wwise – and tools like it – smarter and more intuitive for sound designers. It opens the door to intelligent creative tools that integrate seamlessly into existing workflows, making sound discovery faster, easier, and more inspiring.
Whether you're a game audio director, an R&D researcher, or a creative technologist building the next generation of tools, this project proves what’s possible when high-quality audio data meets responsible AI development.
For companies developing AI models for creative or technical audio tools, this is a case study in what great data enables. Pro Sound Effects is proud to support teams like Sony AI and Audiokinetic by providing the foundational audio datasets that power smarter, more useful tools for sound.
If you're building tools for creators – whether in search, tagging, classification, synthesis, or beyond – you need data that reflects the richness, structure, and nuance of professional sound work. You need datasets built not just for scale, but for quality.
This partnership demonstrates how a world-class audio dataset enables more efficient, intelligent tools that make creative workflows faster, easier, and more effective.
Interested in partnering with PSE to power your AI tools?