The Variably Intense Vocalizations of Affect and Emotion Corpus (VIVAE)

VIVAE

The Variably Intense Vocalizations of Affect and Emotion Corpus (VIVAE) consists of a set of human non-speech emotion vocalizations. The full set, comprising 1085 audio files, features eleven speakers expressing three positive (achievement/ triumph, sexual pleasure, and surprise) and three negative (anger, fear, physical pain) affective states, each parametrically varied from low to peak emotion intensity. The smaller core set of 480 files represents a fully crossed subsample of the full set (6 emotions x 4 intensities x 10 speakers x 2 items) selected based on judged authenticity. 

Please visit our academic paper for full details: 

Holz, N., Larrouy-Maestri, P., & Poeppel, D. (2022). The Variably Intense Vocalizations of Affect and Emotion (VIVAE) corpus prompts new perspective on nonspeech perception. Emotion, 22(1), 213–225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0001048  

File summary

The recordings are digitized at a 44.1-kHz sampling rate and 16-bit resolution.

Each of the 1085 VIVAE files has a unique filename following the file naming convention: [Speaker_Emotion_Intensity_Item-ID.wav]. The filename consists of a 4-part identifier (e.g., S04_surprise_peak_10.wav) defining the stimulus characteristics:

Filename identifiers 

• Speaker (S01 to S11).
• Emotion (achievement, anger, fear, pain, pleasure, and surprise).
• Emotional intensity (low, moderate, strong, peak).
• Item-ID (unique integer identifier within speaker x emotion x intensity conditions) 

Folder structure

• Full set: all 1085 VIVAE files
• Core set: selected 480 VIVAE files 

Citing the VIVAE

Please cite the VIVAE if it is used in your work in any form. Academic works should use the citation for our academic paper.

Holz, N., Larrouy-Maestri, P., & Poeppel, D. (2022). The Variably Intense Vocalizations of Affect and Emotion (VIVAE) corpus prompts new perspective on nonspeech perception. Emotion, 22(1), 213-225. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/emo0001048 

License information

The VIVAE is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, CC BY-NC 4.0. 

For VIVAE usage inquiries not specified or accredited under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, please contact us at natalie.holz@ae.mpg.de to request permission.