MEET Kristy Stefanson - Tarasoff, B.A., BC-HIS, RHAP

Registered Hearing Instrument Practitioner

Kristy Tarasoff is a Registered Hearing Instrument Practitioner with more than a decade of experience. As a child, she saw up close the effects of hearing loss on her family’s quality of life.

“My grandparents were very close to me” she says. As her grandfather grew older, his hearing deteriorated and he became socially isolated and less independent because of it. Like many people with hearing loss, Kristy’s grandfather was fit with hearing aids much later than was beneficial or entirely useful.

Kristy started a career in sales after graduating from the University of Manitoba in 2000, with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. She found herself wanting to help people on a more personal level. When her brother embarked on a career in healthcare, she was inspired to start training to become a Registered Hearing Aid Practitioner. It seemed a natural fit.

So she went back to school Graduating from the Hearing Aid Practitioner program at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, AB. She completed her National Board for Certification in Hearing Instrument Sciences in 2012. Kristy has been an active member of the College of Hearing Aid Practitioners of Alberta since 2009, and is a current member of The Hearing Aid board of Manitoba.

A Practice Built on Diversity

Kristy’s practice was first established in 2009 in Calgary during her employment at Calgary Hearing Aid and Audiology. She was instrumental in leadership within the clinic and daily operations to integrate within the surrounding community.

She’s passionate about serving her community, and equally committed to working with clients from all over Winnipeg and surrounding areas. Kristy’s patients come to see her from as far away as the United States, B.C. and Saskatchewan, as well as just down the block.

Her clientele is diverse in other ways as well. When Kristy started practicing, she was inspired by her grandparents; she wanted to help older adults with hearing loss avoid the stigma and social isolation her grandparents experienced.

However, she soon found herself treating patients as young as 18 with high-frequency hearing loss; professional musicians who needed custom-fitted in-ear monitors; and people in their 20s and 30s with moderate to severe hearing damage, as well as older adults.

The Right Fit for Patients’ Ears and Lifestyles

Kristy believes that a hearing aid must suit not just a patient’s unique pattern of hearing loss, but also their lifestyle.

“You have to talk to the patient and determine the best option for them,” she says. “If they’re not comfortable with the hearing aid, they won’t use it.” It’s essential to get the details right

And getting the details right involves being meticulous about every patient’s unique needs. Kristy takes the time to understand each patient’s priorities, and considers multiple factors including aesthetics, visibility, comfort, and the environment in which the patient lives and works.

“I’m very familiar with all my patients, to the point where I can see their audiograms in my head, all the little nuances of each fitting,” she says. And she understands each patient’s unique preferences and lifestyle needs just as well.

Meet Some of Our Patients

Over the years, Kristy has helped patients of all ages and walks of life. These three patient stories give you an idea of how diverse her client base is.

Patient 1 was just 18 years old when she came to Kristy for the first time. She was struggling at University because she couldn’t understand what her teachers were saying. She had to copy her friend’s notes in class.

Kristy tested the patient’s hearing and discovered she had high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. She fitted her with appropriate hearing aids and the change was dramatic.

“Seeing her face at our first follow-up appointment was amazing,” Kristy says. “She told me that she could hear the teacher now and no longer needed to copy her friend’s notes.”

The patient is now 24 years old and just starting Engineering with her new hearing aids.

Patient 2 was 56 years old when he came to Kristy. He worked as a Provincial court judge and noticed his hearing deteriorating.

The courtroom can be large and the room is reverberant, and the patient needed hearing aids that would help him hear in loud, echoey environments with lots of background noise, as well as on the phone. And he needed his hearing aids to be extremely discrete.

Kristy tested his hearing and found he had moderate to severe sensorineural hearing loss. She fitted him with hearing aids that performed well in his challenging work environment—and were nearly invisible, even on a man with a short haircut.

With these new hearing aids, the patient continues to thrive at his job and nobody knows about his hearing loss unless he tells them.

Patient 3 was 85 years old when she sought treatment. Her husband had just passed away, and she was feeling lonely, sad and lost. She suffered from profound hearing loss and had started to become socially isolated.

The patient’s daughter brought her in to get fitted with hearing aids, and soon she was able to resume her busy social schedule, having normal conversations at family gatherings and connecting with her friends at senior centers.

Patient 4 was Kristy’s mother. Fitting her with hearing aids helped her keep close relationships with family, prevent social isolation, and maintain independence.

“It’s so much easier to talk to her now,” Kristy says. “Family conversations have become less stressful, and I feel assured of her safety when she goes out by herself.”

Outside the Office

Family is important to every aspect of Kristy’s life. She met her husband, when they were both starting their careers in Calgary. They now have two children, ages 17, and 15.

Kristy was born and raised in Winnipeg, attending the U of M, and competed her degree at the U of C. During the last 19 years, Kristy and her family lived and worked in Calgary, were involved in the community and maintained long lasting friendships. In 2018, due to the passing of her spouse’s father in 2010, and his mother early 2019, they decided to relocate back to Winnipeg to be closer to family.

Despite a busy work schedule, Kristy finds time to go for walks out in the neighborhood with her kids, cook favorite comfort foods and adventurous new recipes, and travel occasionally. “Our family goal is to see as much of the world as possible together.”