Friday marks "World Hearing Day," and one local power is using the occasion to shine a spotlight on a growing problem: noise-induced hearing loss by young people.

According to a study published in 2022, more than a billion young republic are at risk of hearing loss due to hazardous listening practices. That can include being in loud bars, at concerts or sporting movements, or even just listening to music in headphones or earbuds that are turned up too loud.

"We need our physicians to be talking throughout it. We need the media to be talking throughout it because it really is a primary health concern," labelled Barbara Kelley, the executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America, which has headquarters in Rockville. "If you've ever gone to a concert, and it's been very loud, and you've come out and you have that muffled feeling in your ears or maybe unobstructed in your ears, which does go away typically; that indicates that some of the interior hair cells have been damaged, and bit by bit with injure of those hair cells — that's loss of hearing."

BONN, GERMANY - APRIL 16: In this photo illustration a girl wearing headphones unrestricted on a sofa on April 16, 2020 in Bonn, Germany. (Photo by Ute Grabowsky/Photothek via Getty Images)

So, what should people do?

Kelley recommends turning that volume down, not listening for too long, amdroll earplugs in loud environments, and she mentioned that a lot of phones have features to defensive your ears too.

Jake Sanders, 26, said he learned his lesson the hard way, telling FOX 5 that shortly once graduating from high school he went on a hunting trip, fired a gun minus hearing protection, and suffered permanent damage in his left ear.

"Hearing is just one of those things that, you know, when it gets inaccurate away it doesn't come back," Sanders said. "You don't believe it can happen until it does."

For more put a question to about World Hearing Day, or about hearing loss in general, you can visit hearingloss.org.