diff --git a/nibabel/__init__.py b/nibabel/__init__.py
index bc97f3ef51..4c3c7ae55c 100644
--- a/nibabel/__init__.py
+++ b/nibabel/__init__.py
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@
 from . import mriutils
 from . import streamlines
 from . import viewers
+from .testing import setup_test
 
 # Note test requirement for "mock".  Requirement for "nose" tested by numpy.
 try:
diff --git a/nibabel/affines.py b/nibabel/affines.py
index 6deab93ad3..2672c90814 100644
--- a/nibabel/affines.py
+++ b/nibabel/affines.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 
 from six.moves import reduce
+from .testing import setup_test  # flake8: noqa F401
 
 
 class AffineError(ValueError):
diff --git a/nibabel/casting.py b/nibabel/casting.py
index caa5ead0ad..0ad0d5a5ca 100644
--- a/nibabel/casting.py
+++ b/nibabel/casting.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from platform import processor, machine
 
 import numpy as np
+from .testing import setup_test  # flake8: noqa F401
 
 
 class CastingError(Exception):
diff --git a/nibabel/nicom/dwiparams.py b/nibabel/nicom/dwiparams.py
index e9d05c0d57..19ffbafa0f 100644
--- a/nibabel/nicom/dwiparams.py
+++ b/nibabel/nicom/dwiparams.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 '''
 import numpy as np
 import numpy.linalg as npl
+from ..testing import setup_test  # flake8: noqa F401
 
 
 def B2q(B, tol=None):
diff --git a/nibabel/nifti1.py b/nibabel/nifti1.py
index 51f5892f1b..4d766a76f5 100644
--- a/nibabel/nifti1.py
+++ b/nibabel/nifti1.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 from .spm99analyze import SpmAnalyzeHeader
 from .casting import have_binary128
 from .pydicom_compat import have_dicom, pydicom as pdcm
+from .testing import setup_test  # flake8: noqa F401
 
 # nifti1 flat header definition for Analyze-like first 348 bytes
 # first number in comments indicates offset in file header in bytes
diff --git a/nibabel/quaternions.py b/nibabel/quaternions.py
index adc2367238..a2a60e324d 100644
--- a/nibabel/quaternions.py
+++ b/nibabel/quaternions.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 
 import math
 import numpy as np
+from .testing import setup_test  # flake8: noqa F401
 
 MAX_FLOAT = np.maximum_sctype(np.float)
 FLOAT_EPS = np.finfo(np.float).eps
diff --git a/nibabel/testing/__init__.py b/nibabel/testing/__init__.py
index 2c6574da97..2fa7f809f6 100644
--- a/nibabel/testing/__init__.py
+++ b/nibabel/testing/__init__.py
@@ -209,3 +209,13 @@ def assert_arr_dict_equal(dict1, dict2):
     for key, value1 in dict1.items():
         value2 = dict2[key]
         assert_array_equal(value1, value2)
+
+
+def setup_test():
+    """ Set numpy print options to "legacy" for new versions of numpy
+
+    If imported into a file, nosetest will run this before any doctests.
+    """
+    from distutils.version import LooseVersion
+    if LooseVersion(np.__version__) >= LooseVersion('1.14'):
+        np.set_printoptions(sign='legacy')