British pop star Ed Sheeran will kick off the New Year (16) with surgery after bursting his ear drum during a recent boating excursion.

The Thinking Out Loud singer is planning to take a hiatus once he wraps up his final world tour dates in New Zealand this weekend (12Dec15), but part of his career break will be spent recovering from an ear operation.

"I have to have an operation in January on my ear because I stupidly jumped off a yacht really high up and smashed it," Ed explains to Australia's Nova radio.

"I landed wrong and it burst my eardrum so I have to go and get a graft, which means I'm not allowed to fly for a while, so it's kind of good; it means I have to stay at home."

Ed reveals the painful accident took place earlier this year (15), while he was on vacation in Spain.

"I didn't realize what happened until I went in the water again and it's the most painful thing having a hole in your eardrum and having water go in," he adds.

The singer, 24, admits he is always battling some kind of injury, especially while on the road.

"I always cut my hands open on something," he confesses. "Last time I did that was last year.

"I just tried to open a beer bottle, you know how you can open beer bottles with lighters? So I tried to do that with another beer bottle and it just kind of shattered in my hand... It's usually beer bottles that smash in my hands and cut them open. I have a load of scars on my hands."