The object of this presentation is to show a movie of a realistic computer model of the ear and how the coding process and auditory channel capacity depends upon maturation of the ear before birth and the reverse process which takes place with aging. The model uses the one-dimensional computationally-efficient wavefilter approach instigated by Fettweis, which describes the motion of the basilar membrane, and the resulting excitation of the auditory nerve. A key feature of the model is the history dependence of biological processes receiving artificial stimulation. Into this model is introduced normal and amplified sounds of various types (sinusoids, clicks, speech) and scalar measures of sound fidelity are derived from the neural activity. The behaviour of the model is presented for the normal ear with intact crossed efferent innervation, and then in various states of pathology modelled as reduced outer hair cell activity and presented in terms of loss of channel capacity. These are considered to the point of total loss of activity mimicking a moderate loss, plus loss of inner hair cells mimicking a severe-to-profound hearing loss. Finally the model depicts the loss of transmission due to a further frequency-independent variable (<10 dB) attenuation which has been associated with the swelling of primary afferent dendrites and its dependence upon sound energy. The model thus demonstrates that the aging ear depends increasingly upon temporal coding, and this process is accentuated by high gain aids. Improved hearing aid performance, particularly in regard to acclimatisation, may thus come from a tradeoff between audiological and physiological considerations.