About this site

This site provides access to a battery of auditory tests for Basic Auditory Skills Evaluation (BASE). Test results may assist people with hearing loss, hearing professionals and researchers in evaluation of hearing abilities. This Basic Auditory Skills Evaluation (BASE) battery was initially developed for adults with hearing loss, and specifically, those who use cochlear implants. The tests, which take about 3 - 5 minutes each, can be taken in the comfort of one’s home or any quiet place with a reasonably good computer audio and Internet connection.

BASE tests were designed to provide information about a broad range of basic auditory skills. They fall into three general categories: (1) tests with tones and noises that do not convey any meaningful information, but can assess the overall integrity of sound processing by the ear; (2) test of common environmental sounds and music; (3) tests of speech perception. Most of BASE tests should pose little difficulty for adults with normal hearing. For someone with hearing loss, test results may be useful in identifying areas of strength and weakness, monitoring changes overtime, with or without treatment, and setting up rehabilitation goals. Test results may also compliment results of other hearing tests that are taken under the care of an audiologist or another qualified medical professional. It is important to note that the tests on this website are not designed or intended to diagnose or treat hearing loss or to replace any other medical tests.

For more information about these tests and their development please see our publication: Shafiro, V., Hebb, M., Walker, C., Hsiao, Y., Brown, K., Sheft, S., Li, Y., Vasil, K., Moberly, A., (2020). Development of the Basic Auditory Skills Evaluation (BASE) battery for online testing of cochlear implant listeners. American Journal of Audiology 29(3S), 577-590.

About us

The BASE battery was developed by Valeriy Shafiro, and members of Auditory Research Laboratory at Rush University Medical Center . A major goal of our work is to develop, validate and make available online auditory tests and exercises that can be used by people with hearing loss to improve their everyday listening and communication. Please contact us, if you are interested in participating in our research.

Funding for the development of the online auditory tests was provided in part by American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation and CAPITA foundation .

The following people have generously contributed efforts, materials and expertise to the development of BASE battery:

Aaron Moberly, Kara Vasil, Yan Li, Stan Sheft, Brian Gygi, David Pisoni, Megan Hebb, Yin (Ivy) Hsiao, Kelly Brown, Chad Walker, Jasper Oh, Teresa Thayyil, Elizabeth Butler, Mark Partain, Madeleine Thomas, Samamtha Hudson, Whitney Grant, Stephanie Paulos, Cody Elston, Karson Glass, Zoe Vann, Jill Preminger, Eric Colon, Nathan Polak, Jessie Rinaldi, Stephanie Burak, Amy Cheung, Stephanie Strong, Katie Swail, Breanna Corle.