Test of Basic Auditory Capabilities,
Modification 4 (TBAC-4)

And the National Auditory Capabilities Database (NACD)

The TBAC-4 pricing system is based on a payment-per-test approach. The cost of the test battery itself has been kept quite low, so that interested users can gain experience with it at a very modest cost. Charges for administration of the test battery are assessed in the form of ¡°Scoring Units (SU)¡± with one SU ($4) required for each scoring of a completed test battery. The developers of the test decided to use this system in order to accomplish two things. The first, of course, is to provide sufficient revenue for continuing support of the test battery, assist users with questions about its use, and for the development of other assessment measures requested by users. The second is to require uploading of (anonymous) test-battery data, to be used in creating an international auditory-abilities database. The cost of the research that was required for the development of the TBAC-4 is very unlikely to be recovered through sales of this battery or of SUs. Knowledgeable users will appreciate the considerable savings in research budgets that can be achieved through use of this battery rather than developing local versions of it. In one sense, however, the developers of the TBAC would hope that some auditory investigators do develop alternative batterys, as the science would benefit from comparisons between performance on more than a single assessment system.

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