Our Team

David Pither

Co-founder, President

Peter Barlett

Co-founder, Vice President

Sheryl Pither

Administrator, Board Member

Rosemary Leslie

Board Member

Donna Carkeet

Board Member

Judith Francis

Board Member

I have worked as a full-time audiometrist fitting hearing aids in private practice since 1976. My journey into charity work began in my early years as an audiometrist, where I participated in the hearing screening of underprivileged children at the Lord Mayors Camp in Portsea .  Since 1989 I have averaged two trips per year to developing countries, to train health workers and to establish the infrastructure required for audiometry and the fitting of hearing aids to the hearing impaired. I tend to specialise in the setting up of ear mould making laboratories and infrastructure, and basic audiometry, in preparation for other Ears Inc. members who follow.  I particularly enjoy pioneering new projects, some of which remain one-off trips and some which grow into major projects.

In 1998, I became founding President of Ears Inc. and was later made a Fellow of the Australian College of Audiology (ACAud) for the promotion of audiology in developing countries. I have served as Chairman of the Board of the Godisa Technologies Trust in Botswana, which produced solar powered body worn hearing aids and solar chargers for behind-the-ear hearing aids, designed for use in developing world. I have also served as Vice President of Children With Hope, an organization that provides training for caregivers to children at risk. I am currently Chairman of the Board of the World Hearing Organisation Inc. in San Jose, California, USA and I am Managing Director of Audigene Pty. Ltd. in Melbourne. My Christian journey has involved worshipping with Methodist, Pentacostal and Baptist fellowships.

"What's the quickest way to convert a three year Melbourne University Science degree into something clinically useful?", I wondered to myself, halfway through 1992 as I looked down the barrel of working with lab rats or test tubes for years to come. The answer I soon stumbled upon was a one year Graduate Diploma in Audiology. Having made a commitment at university to follow Jesus, I was keen to find a purpose in my years of study and audiology has fulfilled that need for over sixteen years. I spent the majority of those years working for Australian Hearing in regional Victoria, primarily Ballarat and Shepparton, but also in Perth and outback Western Australia. I recently finished one year’s work with hearing aid manufacturer Phonak, Australia and have also worked in a number of developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region on mission trips associated with Ears Inc.

My wife Rebecca is also an audiologist and we met at a work training event in 1995. Every year since then, at least one of us has been overseas doing voluntary audiology work, except in 2000 when our first child Jessica was born, 2002 when Brianna was born and in 2006 when our youngest Elouise was born. Our longest overseas placement was in Papua New Guinea for over six months in 2004/05.

Inspired by Donna Carkeet’s  work in the Dominican Republic, we set our sights on a longer-term overseas commitment. After completing my Masters in Business Administration, we moved to Lilongwe in Malawi, Africa, in August 2010 for a two year Ears Inc. project placement with African Bible Colleges Community Clinic, to establish permanent hearing services and an audiology training program.

I trained as a pre-school teacher and my journey into overseas work began when I worked as a volunteer with Youth-With-A-Mission from 1979 to 1984. I became involved with a Youth-With-A-Mission pre-school in Los Angeles, California and worked as a pre-school teacher. I also worked running a dormitory of sixteen girls from ages six to sixteen, in a Mexican orphanage. I organized the pre-school sessions for the younger children and was involved in translating the letters of the children to their sponsors, from Mexican to English.

In 1985, I married David Pither and we have two adult children. I currently assist him in his private practice and work with Ears Inc. in administration and the management of our valued donations.

″Solar powered body aids, manufactured at a very low cost to be made available for use in developing countries″. This was my introduction to Ears Inc. and its founder, David Pither.

I was with a group of interested audiology colleagues listening to David, as he explained the progress of the Ears Inc. body aid development project. Since this time, I have gradually learnt more about the Ears Inc. vision, its small beginnings and the fulfillment of this vision to date.

In meeting David and Sheryl Pither and Peter and Rebecca Bartlett and in talking with my long time friend Emma May, I could see that God had gifted and inspired people within the audiology family to make a difference to the deaf in developing countries, via means of Ears Inc. and its objectives. I joined the Ears Inc. Board of Management in 2008 with a great deal to learn and was first introduced to fellow board members Donna Carkeet and Judy Francis, via Skype at my first board meeting.

Prior to my involvement on the board I was able to visit and observe one of the short term projects. On route home from some travel in 2003, I stopped off in Vietnam and spent 3 days at Thuan An School for the Deaf, situated one hours taxi ride from Saigon. It was an eye opener and raised many questions for me regarding the possibility of future trips, where I could make a much needed contribution, teaching or training local people in audiology in a sustainable way.

I currently work part-time at the Western Hospital. I began my career in the early 1980′s with Australian Hearing, Box Hill and have since worked in community health and with other organizations including the Royal Children′s Hospital. I have recently enjoyed some trips to Northern Australia, working with indigenous children as part of the Government project Closing the Gap.

I was first introduced to the idea of Ears Inc. via a Christian audiologists email network. I volunteered to go with Rebecca Bartlett and a group to India. I was in my final year of Bible College and had still not worked out what I was doing there. I had no idea that one trip to India for a couple of weeks would change all of that. I felt like I had found a way to combine my knowledge of audiology with ministry. I loved training people to make a difference in their communities.

In 2002, I volunteered with Ears Inc. for one year, during which time I travelled to the Dominican Republic, Cambodia, India and the Philippines. I had no idea at that stage that the Dominican Republic would become a long term project. I ended up returning to the Dominican Republic at the end of 2002, at which time the idea was born that a training program for audiology could be developed there.

After a few more short term trips I moved to the Dominican Republic in 2005, by which time the project had developed to a stage where a person was required full-time in order to build a larger training program and expand the current audiology clinic. I have been living in the Dominican Republic since 2005 and in this time I have learnt to speak Spanish and have developed the two year Audiology Training Program, that we had envisaged.

I have been working as an audiologist since 1998 after completing a Post Graduate Diploma in Audiology at the University of Queensland. I love my job as it has enabled me to work in health care with both adults and children, as well as affording me the flexibility of fitting around family life. I spent eight years working as an adult and paediatric specialist for Australian Hearing, followed by shorter term positions at the NHS in Aberdeen, Scotland, Australian Hearing and the Brisbane Royal Children′s Hospital.

Working in audiology has also enabled me to follow my interest in overseas mission work after starting up a conversation with David Pither in the lunch queue at a conference in 1999 and finding out about Ears Inc. Now one of my motivating factors for pursuing clinical experience and excellence is so that I may continue to serve Ears Inc. in a useful and relevant way. My husband (an engineer and not an audiologist) and I have been on three Ears Inc. short term trips.  India in 2001, the Philippines in 2003 and the Dominican Republic in 2007. All of these trips have been fantastic, rewarding and life-impacting, as well as providing challenging clinical experiences. In 2005, I was asked to serve on the Board of Ears Inc. and in 2008, I accepted the role of Secretary.