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FRIDAY was an occasion for celebration at Australian Hearing in Bendigo.
Staffers marked the statutory authority’s 70th year with some of their 70-year-old clients.
Among them was Golden Square resident Barry Lockyer, who had been wearing hearing aids for about five years.
He said Australian Hearing helped him maintain the devices, and monitored his hearing.
“I was a bit self-conscious about admitting I was deaf but the wife kept telling me that,” Mr Lockyer said.
The former foundry worker eventually plucked up the courage to get a hearing test.
These days, Mr Lockyer imagined “it’d be hard work” living without hearing aids.
“I’ve got no problem with wearing them,” he said.
“The contrast is so great.”
About 2000 people access Australian Hearing’s services in Bendigo and Castlemaine each year.
Manager Natalie Betts said clients included adults and children with hearing loss.
Four audiologists are based in Bendigo, while one works out of Castlemaine.
Australian Hearing was established by the federal government in 1947 to help children with hearing impairment associated with rubella epidemics, and World War II veterans with hearing damage.