diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index ee85f6f670958a4f7b15bc7d7f7d48d6b5b2240e..00b1d19f9fb93aba299b4591796a3ab776bd6234 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -183,6 +183,9 @@ Dialplan Functions
  * Added PASSTHRU, which literally passes the same argument back as its return
    value.  The intent is to be able to use a literal string argument to
    functions that currently require a variable name as an argument.
+ * HASH-associated variables now can be inherited across channel creation, by
+   prefixing the name of the hash at assignment with the appropriate number of
+   underscores, just like variables.
 
 Dialplan Variables
 ------------------
diff --git a/funcs/func_strings.c b/funcs/func_strings.c
index 5dbd83af3c076bd88a87741928780e63d13f83f9..afabb0f12a495637e89fc4c7bf34ba0b9d81bf08 100644
--- a/funcs/func_strings.c
+++ b/funcs/func_strings.c
@@ -831,7 +831,16 @@ static int array(struct ast_channel *chan, const char *cmd, char *var,
 				arg2.val[i]);
 		if (i < arg2.argc) {
 			if (ishash) {
-				snprintf(varname, sizeof(varname), HASH_FORMAT, origvar, arg1.var[i]);
+				if (origvar[0] == '_') {
+					if (origvar[1] == '_') {
+						snprintf(varname, sizeof(varname), "__" HASH_FORMAT, origvar + 2, arg1.var[i]);
+					} else {
+						snprintf(varname, sizeof(varname), "_" HASH_FORMAT, origvar + 1, arg1.var[i]);
+					}
+				} else {
+					snprintf(varname, sizeof(varname), HASH_FORMAT, origvar, arg1.var[i]);
+				}
+
 				pbx_builtin_setvar_helper(chan, varname, arg2.val[i]);
 			} else {
 				pbx_builtin_setvar_helper(chan, arg1.var[i], arg2.val[i]);
@@ -909,7 +918,15 @@ static int hash_write(struct ast_channel *chan, const char *cmd, char *var, cons
 	}
 
 	AST_STANDARD_APP_ARGS(arg, var);
-	snprintf(varname, sizeof(varname), HASH_FORMAT, arg.hashname, arg.hashkey);
+	if (arg.hashname[0] == '_') {
+		if (arg.hashname[1] == '_') {
+			snprintf(varname, sizeof(varname), "__" HASH_FORMAT, arg.hashname + 2, arg.hashkey);
+		} else {
+			snprintf(varname, sizeof(varname), "_" HASH_FORMAT, arg.hashname + 1, arg.hashkey);
+		}
+	} else {
+		snprintf(varname, sizeof(varname), HASH_FORMAT, arg.hashname, arg.hashkey);
+	}
 	pbx_builtin_setvar_helper(chan, varname, value);
 
 	return 0;