Who star warns of iPod danger

Pete Townshend has warned of the risk of hearing loss from using MP3 players

Pete Townsend, guitarist with The Who, has warned that the current generation of Apple iPod users could be storing up problems for the future.

Townsend explained on his website that years of wearing headphones in the studio have left him with serious hearing problems. He now has to take 36-hour breaks between working to let his hearing recover. 

"Hearing loss is a terrible thing because it cannot be repaired," he said. " If you use an iPod or anything like it, or your child uses one, you may be OK. But my intuition tells me there is terrible trouble ahead."

Townsend added that The Who, along with Pink Floyd, had pioneered the use of PA systems at live performances, but that it was the use of headphones that had caused the most damage.

The guitarist also revealed that he was not the only member of The Who to suffer hearing loss. Bass guitarist John Entwistle, who died in 2002, had similar problems which caused him to drift out of time with the drummer during solos.

"I have unwittingly helped to invent and refine a type of music that makes its principal proponents deaf," warned Townsend. "It takes time, but it happens. "