Pete Townshend Responds To Hearing Loss Claims

Townshend needs a break – he's getting on a bit!   27-Jul-11

In a recent post on his blog, Pete Townshend addressed claims that he is losing his hearing. 

Rumours surrounding The Who guitarist's hearing (or lackthereof) escalated after Roger Daltrey was interviewed by Rolling Stone, and revealed that Townshend wasn't appearing on the Tommy tour because "[he] is having terrible hearing problems at the moment", and went on to say "I don’t want to be on stage with him destroying the last bit of his hearing.”

Pete has essentially asked the press to give him a break, putting the hearing loss down to natural loss of frequencies experienced by any average 66-year-old:

"I’m 66, I don’t have perfect hearing, and if I listen to loud music or go to gigs I do tend to get tinnitus. DON’T WE ALL????”

He then spoke about Roger's tour, and how he works in his studio:

“The reason I am not on the road with Roger is that this is entirely Roger’s adventure, one that is bringing him great joy…My hearing is actually better than ever because after a feedback scare at the O2 Indigo in December 2008 I am taking good care of it. I have computer systems in my studio that have helped me do my engineering work on the forthcoming Quadrophenia release. I have had assistance from younger forensic engineers and mastering engineers to help me clean up the high frequencies that are out of my range…"

Rich Beech
www.StudioParanormal.com