The Hearing and Speech Foundation is a charitable 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to providing the gift of sound to the people of East Tennessee and beyond.

The Foundation began in 1978 as a philanthropic endeavor by John Berry and Tutt Bradford. At that time, Berry, owner of Blount Hearing and Speech Services, provided hearing aids to patients who needed aids, but could not afford to purchase them. Instead of allowing these patients to walk out of his clinic without the gift of sound, Berry gave them the aids at cost or for free. Tutt Bradford did not want Berry's generosity to adversely affect his business, so he suggested Berry start a foundation to offer financial assistance for hearing aids and services for patients in need. By 1981, the Foundation was officially incorporated and began providing the gift of sound to people in East Tennessee.

Berry’s vision of the Foundation quickly grew to include a program focused on training deaf educators, speech pathologists and audiologists in the Verbotonal Method of aural rehabilitation. This method was originally developed by Petar Guberina of Zagreb, Croatia, and emphasizes the analysis and use of a hearing impaired person’s auditory perception as measured through his residual hearing. Instead of over-amplifying in the areas of the patient’s hearing loss, hearing professionals train the brain to decode speech information through the available good hearing. Berry first became interested in this method while studying audiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He travelled several times to Zagreb, and observed a variety of medical doctors and speech and hearing professionals implement the method. While there, he witnessed several hundred profoundly deaf children speaking English as a second language. After seeing firsthand the effects of developing auditory perception by effective use of amplification and other strategies, Berry dedicated his efforts to this method of auditory training.

In 1999, the Foundation expanded its domestic hearing aid assistance program to Jamaica, where deaf individuals are seen as outcasts and rarely receive assistance from the government. Since its inception, HSF has provided over 400 Jamaican children with the gift of sound.

In 2003, Berry and numerous volunteers began the Foundation’s research and development program. The primary goal of the program is to measure the physical properties of the speech signal and relate the measurements to auditory speech perception in the hearing-impaired. The information gleaned from this program will be used to improve the performance of hearing aids and enable the hearing-impaired person to function better in a hearing world. Research is conducted in an anechoic chamber, a large room filled with sound-absorbing wedges made of foam and attached to the walls, ceilings and floor. This unique room absorbs more than 99 percent of outside noise and provides a one-of-a-kind research laboratory. In October 2008, researchers published a report that details the progress of their research. They traveled to Tampa, Fla., in March of 2009, to present their research at the 5th Annual International Aural Rehabilitation Conference.

As the Foundation enters its 29th year, the staff and board of directors look forward to expanding the training program, publishing and presenting more research, and providing more people with the gift of sound.