PETE TOWNSHEND, whose raging guitar powered The Who to the pinnacle of rock and roll in the 1960s and '70s, said yesterday that severe damage to his hearing caused him to think "very, very seriously" about committing to a two-month Who reunion tour this summer.

"You have to realize I'm actually somebody that's disabled," the graying Townshend told a news conference about the band's tour plans. He said he was undecided until this year about whether The Who would record, tour, or play again.

"I'm still very nervous about how I'm gonna be able to perform on the stage without creating further damage to my hearing," Townshend said. One measure will be a second electric guitarist on stage. "We'll manage," Townshend said, then smiled. "We'll play very, very quietly."

Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, supplemented this time with drummer Simon Phillips, a brass section, keyboard players and backup singers, will play a greatest-hits session at Giants Stadium on June 29; two days earlier, they'll play a special charity performance of their rock opera, "Tommy," at Radio City Music Hall.

The Who, which disbanded after a 1982 tour but did not rule out future reunions, has returned for its 25th anniversary without the intentions of "resurrecting the group," Daltrey said. "This tour is a celebration of the music, and an album might come and it might not. If it comes, we'll do it because it's fun."

Session drummer Phillips will replace Kenney Jones, who replaced Keith Moon, who died of a drug overdose in 1978. Jones "got fed up with waiting for us to get it together," Townshend said. "In a sense, we can't change this particular relationship. This is the electric one. This is the one which always begs the presence of Keith Moon."

Townshend, who will turn 44 next month, wore a small pony tail and surveyed his audience with a devilish look in his blue eyes. He said he'll play "a different style of guitar on stage, a bit like John Denver" when the tour opens June 24 in Toronto. "If I expose myself to loud electric guitar, particularly my loud electric guitar, my hearing suffers and I have to take about three weeks away from listening to any loud noise."

As well as classic Who pieces, the band will perform songs from members' solo records, including a half-dozen from Townshend's "Iron Man" album, scheduled for release in June. The three-hour-plus stadium shows include an intermission and no warmup band, "and we usually expand on our shows," Townshend said.

The Who will play "Tommy" only twice during their 25-city tour; the second show is scheduled for Los Angeles. Both will be sponsored by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to benefit the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation to aid autistic children. The Music Hall tickets go on sale Monday at Radio City at 10 a.m.

Townshend said the group decided to play "Tommy" in its entirety for the first time in almost 20 years because it "sticks in the memory. It is 'Tommy' for which people really remember The Who. We kept running away from it for a long time. We thought this year, we should just strip off our clothes and stand naked, and we might as well do it with 'Tommy.'"