Sustainable Health Education Simulator Using Open-Source Technology

Abstract

The information society has transformed human life. Technology is almost everywhere, including health and education. For example, years ago, speech and language therapy major students required a long time and high-cost equipment to develop healthcare competencies regarding the auditory and vestibular systems. The high cost of the equipment permitted its practical use only in classes, hindering students’ autonomy in developing those competencies. That situation was a real issue, even more in pandemic times where online education was essential. This article describes SAEF, an open-source software simulator for autonomously developing procedural audiology therapy competencies, user acceptance of this tool, and the validity of experiments and results. A great feature of SAEF is the immediate feedback and performance results delivered. A great achievement is the obtained results of students for its validity and its acceptability among speech and language therapy educators. Those results invite authors to continue developing free-access simulator software solutions in other health education contexts. SAEF was developed using open-source technology to facilitate its accessibility, classification, and sustainability.