With Agfest kicking off from Wednesday the team from Bloom Hearing is gearing up to again provide festival-goers with the opportunity to check their hearing health.
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Bloom Hearing has been a fixture at Agfest for six years, delivering free hearing tests to countless visitors to its stall.
Resident audiometrist Judie Wells said the service was traditionally well-received by attendees, not just to take a hearing test, but to educate themselves about how hearing loss may manifest itself.
"Having free tests allows people the ability to see issues that have been mentioned by other family members then they can be addressed," she said.
Ms Wells said the Agfest setting was vital to extend the education into the farming community who often do not have time for tests, or have never considered the extent of their hearing loss.
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"It's also educating people and getting away from the stigma associated with hearing loss - that it's always age related - which it's not. Especially for farmers, they're subjected to such loud noises in their working environment and it does have a big impact," she said.
Aside from how rewarding providing the service of free hearing checks was, Ms Wells said the opportunity to connect Bloom people from all around Tasmania and was a continued highlight of Bloom Hearing's participation in the regional extravaganza.
"It's lovely to meet people throughout Tassie ... And as we've got site throughout Tassie, it helps us look after people in the South, North and North-West areas," she said.
The organisation is prominent in the Northern Tasmanian community with seven locations throughout the North and North-West.
Ahead of the event, Ms Wells congratulated the Agfest committee for getting the festival up and running after a disappointing 2020 and their handling of the difficulties COVID-19 has presented.
"They've really got to be commended for the organisation and committee have done in getting everything ready in view of what's happened. They've done a fantastic job," she said.
"Now we look forward to having a really great four days at Agfest."
Agfest is one of the largest agricultural field days in Australia and has been a major event on the Northern Tasmanian event calendar since 1983.
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The event is recognised as one of the top three agricultural field days in Australia and, incredibly, is proudly organised by a volunteer committee from Rural Youth Tasmania and our hard working staff.
Agfest in the paddock runs from May 5 until May 8 while Agfest in the cloud is on from May 8 until May 15. Tickets to the event, held at Quercus Park at Carrick, are sold out.
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