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A group of 25 normal-hearing children aged 6 to 13 years was compared to a group of 25 children manifesting a unilateral hearing impairment of at least 45 dB HL. The two groups were matched on age, I.Q., socio-economic status, sex, and race. Thirty-two percent of the hearing-impaired children failed a grade in school, while none of the normal-hearing children failed. This group of children who failed in school exhibited verbal I.Q.s which were significantly lower than those children who succeeded in school. However, few differences were found between the two groups on a battery of standardized language tests.

The NSST was administered to 900 children aged three years to seven years, 11 months. Using a step-wise multiple regression model, the test was shortened from 20 to 11 test items receptively and expressively, while accounting for 95% of total test score variance. This shortened form, taking approximately 10 minutes to administer, was normed in six-month intervals as opposed to the one-year intervals of the original NSST. A cross validation sample of 301 children was used to demonstrate that comparable clinical decisions are made employing either form.