The IADS-E is an expanded version of the second edition of the International Affective Digitized Sounds system (IADS-2; Bradley & Lang, 2007a). It consists of 935 digitally recorded natural sounds (including those from the IADS-2) that are commonly encountered in daily life, such as babies crying, typing, footsteps, background music, and sound effects. The new sounds in the expanded version were collected from internet sources, sampled using computer music software, or composed by a professional composer.
The IADS-E (including the IADS-2 sounds) is divided into ten semantic categories: animals (N = 54), people (N = 74), nature (N = 70), daily routines (N = 187), transport (N = 59), electronic sounds (N = 64), sound effects (N = 171), breaking sounds (N = 56), music (N = 170), and scenarios (N = 30). Each sound lasts six seconds and has been rated by Japanese participants on the affective dimensions of valence, arousal, and dominance/control using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM; Bradley & Lang, 1994), as well as on three basic emotion scales: happiness, sadness, and fear.
The aims of the IADS-E are to (1) enable the comparison of results across various kinds of auditory research, and (2) provide a reliable auditory stimulus database for examining emotional processing mechanisms across different modalities, thereby promoting comparable affective research.The new sounds in the IADS-E are freely available to the scientific community for non-commercial academic use.
Please note that the IADS-E team does not distribute the original IADS-2 sounds.
The IADS-2 can be obtained only through the official IADS-2 website maintained by the original authors:
We provide the new sound files in the IADS-E for non-profit academic research.
To request access, please complete and submit the IADS-E Request Form.
(The previous request form is currently unavailable).
Once your form has been submitted, you will receive a private download link for the IADS-E.
If your academic email address is not automatically verified, the approval process and delivery of the download link may take several days. We appreciate your patience during this verification process.
The download link must not be shared, distributed, or posted online, nor may the IADS-E files be distributed to anyone other than the individual who submitted the request.
Please note that we only accept requests from researchers holding a master’s degree or higher.
Undergraduate students should ask their faculty advisors to complete the IADS-E Request Form on their behalf.
Undergraduate students should ask their faculty advisors to complete the on their behalf.
If you use the IADS-E in your research, please cite:
Yang, W., Makita, K., Nakao, T., Kanayama, N., Machizawa, M. G., Sasaoka, T., ... & Miyatani, M. (2018). Affective auditory stimulus database: An expanded version of the International Affective Digitized Sounds (IADS-E). Behavior research methods, 50(4), 1415-1429.