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Factors associated with the average drive times to the nearest audiologist.
What is it about?
When rural-dwelling Americans were asked why they didn't seek audiological care, they often said that there were no options for them. To support this claim, we used information from public databases and geological software to estimate drive times for all Americans in the contiguous US. We found that 5.29 million Americans need to drive at least an hour, and that the 10% most rural-dwelling drive an average of 33.8 minutes. We investigated the data further and found that having low income and identifying as Hispanic increased these drive times, even after adjusting for rurality.
Why is it important?
There are many barriers to audiological care. Highlighting the importance of drive times will help motivate policymakers to reduce this contributing barrier so that we can ensure that all individuals get the care that they need. Additionally, identifying disparities in access to care will hopefully motivate policymakers to create a more equitable environment.