The kids aren't all right.

Pete Townshend has become the latest rocker to confess how a serious hearing loss has dramatically affected his life and career.

In this post on his weblog, he outlines how he believes that headphones have done much more damage than live shows, and begs people to beware of the hazards of headphones of all types.

"Hearing loss is a terrible thing because it cannot be repaired," he writes.

He is right. The most frustrating thing about hearing loss is the terrible irreversibility of it. Even I, who experienced the miracle of going from deafness to sound, will never really 'hear' again. It'll always be a problem and a frustration for me and those around me. Hearing loss is always in some degree forever, as irreversible as death.

The only thing as frustrating is knowing think that people are wilfully ignoring the pleas of people like Townshend, which could stop the terrible progression of hearing loss and deafness. Turn them down, and take them off.

ronnie