4 minute read
2021 BGS Impact Report
Listing for Purpose
Businessman, inventor, doctor and former PR man for a Hollywood producer – BGS Old Boy Dr James Fielding ’04 is certainly an all rounder. He is also the CEO of ASX listed Australian company Audeara, which produces the world’s first audio-perfecting headphones with a built-in hearing test.
Fielding’s passion for trying different things can be traced back to his school days. He was destined to attend BGS, as the son of prominent Old Boy Dr George Fielding ’73.
“My dad went to BGS, both my uncles went to BGS and were School Captains. I loved it. The opportunities at the School are endless,” he said.
“What I really respect is that it wasn’t about how good you were in anything, but about having a go. There were so many people doing different things.
“Being at BGS surrounded by so many people who are so amazing at so many things, you believe that you can fit into that space. It was very easy to see what success looked like. It was an achieveable goal and it broke down so many barriers around what life could be like.”
After graduating from BGS, Fielding studied Business management and Biomedical Science at The University of Queensland. From there he continued to take different opportunities, working in financial research analysis and then public relations in New York.
He returned home to complete a medical degree at UQ and was based at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. From there, Fielding made the leap from fulltime clinical medicine to focus on his Audeara dream.
Founded in 2015, Fielding teamed up with good friends Dr Chris Jeffrey and Alex Afflick to bring the pleasures of music to all people, regardless of their hearing capabilities.
Fielding, a keen drummer, has an appreciation for music and the joy it can bring to people’s lives. Audeara was conceived as a medical device, giving patients a way to perform quality audiograms without having to wait for an appointment at a clinic. The concept soon grew to face the challenge of adjusting music in real-time based on a person’s hearing profile and this was then translated into headphones.
“It came from seeing patients and wanting to meet a need,” he said. “Hearing just isn’t on people’s radars and it should be. The more we dug into it, the more we learned about all of the links to Alzheimer’s Disease. Nine per cent of Alzheimer’s patient diagnoses could be prevented if you correct mid-age hearing loss. This occurs through social isolation.
“We’re a ‘for purpose’ business. Everything we do is focused around improving the quality of life for those who need our products. Those people are most often hearing impaired, but also include children on the autism spectrum and those who are health conscious.
“The nature of the business means helping those in need. We are not a charity, but we make money by providing this value and that allows us to keep doing it and helping more and more people.”
Fielding said the statistics speak for themselves with one in five teenagers experiencing hearing loss and 60% is self-inflicted.
Audeara was listed with ASX in 2021 and is now valued at $21 million.
From developing a detailed business plan called a prospectus, to the comprehensive fundraising process, the process to list a company on the ASX is extensive.
“A highlight of the process of publicly listing a company is of course ringing the stock exchange ASX bell,” Fielding said. “It is a surreal moment.”
Audeara is now expanding into the US market, with Fielding spending much of his time in New York.
