A charity concert on Wednesday night at the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing is dedicated to raising public awareness of hearing loss and the need to help the deaf, especially children.

The concert is sponsored by 15 ministries, including the China Disabled Person's Federation and the National Health and Family Planning Commission. Similar concerts have been held in four other cities, including Shanghai, Urumqi and Shenzhen.

The federation initiated the National Ear Care Day in 2000 to raise public awareness of the ear and hearing protection. Since then, it has been observed annually on March 3.

About 90 percent of deaf children in China are unable to speak because they have not had the opportunity to develop language and speech, the federation said.

The federation supported the establishment of the China Rehabilitation and Research Center for Deaf Children in 1983, aiming to reduce hearing loss and aid children who have severe hearing loss.

China had more than 1,000 hearing rehabilitation centers nationwide in 2014, and about 11,000 children received free cochlear implants that year.