Audiologist Dispersion and Workforce Sufficiency in Texas: A Public Health Investigation.

Purpose: Limited access to qualified professionals prevents children and adults with hearing loss from receiving timely care needed to mitigate the insidious impacts of hearing loss. Previous studies note the U.S. audiology workforce (~14,400 in 2022) is insufficient for meeting the growing hearing health care needs of the American population. The objective of the present study is to characterize the geographic dispersion of audiologists in Texas and to compare sufficiency using various benchmarks for identifying hearing health care shortage areas in the state. Method: For each of the 254 Texas counties, geographic hearing health accessibility was assessed as a binary outcome (sufficient, insufficient) using three published provider-to-population ratio benchmarks (1:3,500 [primary care physicians]; 1:5,000 [dentists]; and 1:10,000 [educational audiologists]). Workforce sufficiency of licensed audiologists was then compared across Texas public health service regions (PHSRs), rurality categories, and U.S.--Mexico border designations. Results: Results indicated that the audiologist workforce in Texas is insufficient to meet the hearing health care needs of the population in 96% of counties (244 of the 254). Most PHSRs were understaffed, with the exception of select counties in the Dallas metro area. Access to licensed audiologists was consistently limited, regardless of rurality or proximity to the U.S.--Mexico border. Conclusions: The audiology workforce in Texas is insufficient to meet the hearing health care needs of the population. State-level public health, regulatory, and educational policies should prioritize addressing workforce shortages and audiology "deserts." Provision of audiology services via telehealth also represents a promising strategy for improving access in areas where no provider is present. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.30781130 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]