THE Wimmera Hearing Society has been attending the Mallee Machinery Field Days since 1998.
In that time, they have diagnosed varying degrees of hearing loss among the rural community attending the event.
More than 70 people accessed their services at the last field days in 2019.
However, Wimmera Hearing Society manager Sue Ward said this year’s visit would be bittersweet for the organisation as it would mark their last time at the field days.
“Unfortunately, this will be our last trip to Speed due to financial cuts to the program,” Ms Ward said.
The organisation, made up of volunteers, including retired audiologists and nurses has been making a difference for more than two decades.
Statistics reveal 22 people were referred for further investigation following their attendance at the 2019 event.
“We had 33 farmers with hearing loss, and 20 of those had a hearing loss which would benefit from hearing aids,” Ms Ward said.
“There were also 24 people that had a high frequency hearing loss, which indicated that they are not protecting their hearing when in a noisy environment.”
Ms Ward said hearing health was of particular importance to the farming community, noting noise induced hearing loss was prevalent, despite being preventable.
“It’s really important to use hearing protection when around noisy equipment or farming machinery,” Ms Ward said.
“This type of hearing loss will never come back so prevention is the best cure.”
Ms Ward said the organisation had built wonderful relationships at the field days over the past 24 years.
“Many farmers now include a hearing check each year, as part of their overall health checks,” Ms Ward said.
With COVID-19 forcing the cancellation of the event in 2020 and 2021, Ms Ward said this year would be important and she urged everyone to make the time for a hearing screening, especially as this would be their last year at the event.
“It’s such a shame,” Ms Ward said.
“It’s been a pleasure to attend the Speed Field Days and I thank the committee for their continued support.”
