diff --git a/local_whisper/audio.py b/local_whisper/audio.py
index cc33676..0de8197 100644
--- a/local_whisper/audio.py
+++ b/local_whisper/audio.py
@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ from typing import BinaryIO
 import ffmpeg
 import numpy as np
 
-DEFAULT_SAMPLE_RATE = 16000
+from .settings import whisper_settings
+
+DEFAULT_SAMPLE_RATE = whisper_settings.default_sample_rate
 
 
 # TODO probably can offload this on a worker queue too
diff --git a/local_whisper/inference.py b/local_whisper/inference.py
index 7d5490b..6cc8584 100644
--- a/local_whisper/inference.py
+++ b/local_whisper/inference.py
@@ -4,14 +4,17 @@ from threading import Lock
 import torch
 import whisper
 
+from .settings import whisper_settings
+
 # TODO use pydantic config
-model_name = os.getenv("ASR_MODEL", "base")
+model_name = whisper_settings.base_asr_model
 if torch.cuda.is_available():
     model = whisper.load_model(model_name).cuda()
 else:
     model = whisper.load_model(model_name)
 model_lock = Lock()
 
+
 # TODO move transcribe to a modeling worker
 def transcribe(audio):
     # options_dict = {"task" : task}
diff --git a/local_whisper/settings.py b/local_whisper/settings.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd5d3b7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/local_whisper/settings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+from pydantic import BaseSettings, Field
+
+
+class WhisperSettings(BaseSettings):
+    """Whisper Application Settings.
+
+    All environment varaibles supplied should be prefixed with "WHISPER_".
+    """
+
+    base_asr_model: str = Field(
+        default="medium.en", description="The base whisper model to host."
+    )
+    default_sample_rate: int = Field(
+        default=16000,
+        description="The default sample rate used to resample the audio if necessary",
+    )
+
+    class Config:
+        env_prefix = "WHISPER_"
+
+
+whisper_settings = WhisperSettings()
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_inference.py b/tests/unit/test_inference.py
index 7db4422..b58d320 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_inference.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_inference.py
@@ -1,9 +1,13 @@
-from local_whisper.inference import transcribe
 from local_whisper.audio import load_audio
+from local_whisper.inference import transcribe
 
 
 def test_transcribe(sample_audio):
     with open(sample_audio, mode="rb") as af:
         audio = load_audio(af)
     result = transcribe(audio)
-    assert result["text"].strip() == "Let's see, right now I'm playing Horizon Zero Dawn. I also had just recently finished BioShock Infinite."
+    assert (
+        result["text"].strip().lower()
+        == "Let's see, right now I'm playing Horizon Zero Dawn."
+        " I also had just recently finished BioShock Infinite.".lower()
+    )
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_settings.py b/tests/unit/test_settings.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a53cbe7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_settings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+import os
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+from pydantic.types import SecretStr
+
+from local_whisper.settings import WhisperSettings
+
+SETTING_DEFAULTS = {"BASE_ASR_MODEL": "medium.en", "DEFAULT_SAMPLE_RATE": 16000}
+
+
+def test_setting_defaults():
+    """Regression test for settings schema."""
+    with patch.dict(os.environ, {}, clear=True):
+        savant_settings = WhisperSettings()
+        assert len(savant_settings.dict()) == len(SETTING_DEFAULTS)
+        for k, v in SETTING_DEFAULTS.items():
+            _setting_value = getattr(savant_settings, k.lower())
+            unmasked_setting = (
+                _setting_value.get_secret_value()
+                if isinstance(_setting_value, SecretStr)
+                else _setting_value
+            )
+            unmasked_setting == v
+
+
+def test_with_envvar_prefix():
+    with patch.dict(os.environ, {"WHISPER_DEFAULT_SAMPLE_RATE": "22500"}, clear=True):
+        whisper_settings = WhisperSettings()
+        assert whisper_settings.default_sample_rate == 22500