Answer: Hearing Disorders

Ray Charles, the accomplished mid-20th century musician, is best known for his chart-topping musical hits and for his distinct dark shades, an accessory he was never without on account of his blindness (an affliction that had not been with him since birth as many assume, but since he was a young boy).

Given Charles’ prominence as the most accomplished and famed blind musician in the world, it would be easy to presume that the Ray Charles Foundation’s mission would be to cure blindness. The mission of the Ray Charles Foundation, however, is to advance research into hearing disorders as Charles considered music to be essential to life and that music had saved his life and he wouldn’t know how he could live life without it.

The foundation’s mission is a natural extension of Charles’ own personal philanthropic efforts as, even before the foundation was created, Charles would pay for cochlear implants for those in need.