About us
Our Mission
Hearing Connections aims to provide people with hearing loss or who are deaf with the technology and support they need to be independent.
Andrew Stewart
Managing Director
Andrew knows both sides of the story - he lives the experience on a daily basis, and he has the technical qualifications.
Andrew has worn hearing aids since age 7 and now wears two cochlear implants. Furthermore he has two hearing impaired children, two sisters, a brother and parents who all wear a combination of cochlear implants and hearing aids.
Since completing his training in 1982 Andrew has specialised in Hearing Augmentation Systems (hearing loop, FM, and infra-red systems). This includes having conducted research and development of Hearing Augmentation Systems for improved outcomes and has advocated for systemic change for people with hearing loss, who are hearing impaired, are hard of hearing and for the deaf. He has received numerous awards for his contributions, including life membership of the peak organisation, Deafness Forum of Australia.
In addition, he has extensive experience installing and designing sound field systems and public address systems, focusing on speech clarity.
Andrew has spent over 20 years advocating for the needs of deaf and hearing impaired people and has received numerous awards for his contributions, including life membership of the peak organisation in Australia, Deafness Forum.
For more on Andrew's story, read our Blog Post on his hearing journey or for his career achievements and experience, please head to his LinkedIn profile.
Leanne Stewart
Assistant Manager
Leanne has been married to Andrew for over 30 years, and together they have raised their two hearing impaired children who are now adults. Leanne has been a Registered Nurse, Midwife, Community Nurse and a Pharmaceutical Assistant.
When Andrew and Leanne's two children were diagnosed with a hearing loss, Leanne let go of any plans to move back into the workforce and instead dedicated all her efforts to early intervention with both children. This included many hearing appointments and countless hours of speech therapy; both with the therapists, and at home. Leanne also spent a lot of her time advocating for her children, teaching their school teachers about hearing loss and how to best accommodate and include her children.
When both children were at school Leanne used some of her free time to work as a Note Taker for some deaf high school students at Arthur Phillip High School and volunteer at RIDBC as a Teachers Aide.
Over the years Leanne learned to troubleshoot hearing aids and find creative solutions to some hearing difficulties her family faced. This including sticking nail stickers to their daughter's hearing aids to help her feel more confident and creating a 'Treasure Chest' hearing aid container for their son's hearing aids so they wouldn't get lost overnight.
Bec Stewart
Communications Leader
Andrew and Leanne’s daughter, Bec was born into a hearing impaired family and started wearing hearing aids at 5 years old. In late 2017 Bec received a cochlear implant and continues to wear a hearing aid in her other ear.
Bec has been a mentor for “Hear For You” since 2013, supporting and empowering deaf teenagers and recently as the Western Sydney Co-ordinator for over two years. She also began to learn Auslan (Australian Sign Language) in 2017 completing a Cert II and continues to explore more of Auslan and the Deaf community.
With a passion for social change, Bec has a skill in writing to educate others about the struggles that can come with hearing loss. She has kept an informative record of her experiences throughout her cochlear implant journey which can be found on her LinkedIn profile.
Pete Stewart
Andrew and Leanne’s eldest son, Pete, was diagnosed with a moderate to severe hearing loss at three years old and has worn hearing aids ever since and is an avid telecoil user for the TV.
Pete has been a high achiever in his careers advisor role using his natural skill in relating to others. He is able to connect to people in a meaningful way and brings fresh enthusiasm to our company along with humour and skills in communication and sales.
Pete is a natural entrepreneur, always thinking about the next step and has experience in starting and running his own business. Pete is a passionate young adult who gives his all to the things he cares about.