Berliner immigrated to the United States in 1870. In 1877, a year after Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, Berliner developed a transmitter employing a loose metal contact and, while experimenting with it, made the important discovery that the device could act as a superior telephone receiver.

Berliner later added other inventions to the development of the telephone, and, in 1887, turning his attention to the problem of the phonograph, he made another contribution of major significance, the flat phonograph disc, or record, across which the stylus moved horizontally, rather than vertically (as on a cylinder), thus minimizing the distortions caused by gravity on Thomas Edison's recording stylus. He also invented a method for manufacturing records.

Berliner's interest was, further, attracted to aeronautics; in 1908 he designed a lightweight internal-combustion motor that became a widely imitated prototype for aircraft. Under his general supervision, his son, Henry Berliner, designed a helicopter that flew successfully as early as 1919. Returning to problems of sound reproduction, the elder Berliner in 1925 invented an acoustic tile for use in auditoriums and concert halls.