ScanSoft RealSpeak Selected As the Voice for Microsoft's Educational Initiative in Germany

Market-Leading, Natural-Sounding Text-to-Speech Deployed to Improve Speaking Capabilities of Young Children

MUNICH, Germany and GENT, Belgium, July 14, 2003 ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, today announced that ScanSoft's RealSpeak™ text-to-speech has been selected as the voice for the educational software developed for Microsoft's language initiative "Schlaumaeuse," a comprehensive educational project in Germany. Designed to support the speaking capabilities of young children from ages 4 to 6 in day care facilities around Germany, Microsoft's educational program is supported by UNICEF, German politicians, the Cornelesen Publishing House, and other hardware and software vendors such as Hewlett-Packard and ScanSoft.

Through late 2004, two hundred day care centers will be outfitted with a media package containing a tablet PC that includes specially developed language learning software including parts of the Cornelsen's educational software LollyPop and ScanSoft's RealSpeak. In addition to other features, the children will be able to hear the words they have written on the tablet PC read out to them with ScanSoft's RealSpeak text-to-speech technology, helping them to understand the connection between written and spoken language and improve their intonation and pronunciation.

"Educational projects are especially important for Microsoft, and this initiative continues our social commitment in this field. "Schlaumaeuse" targets children who grow up in socially underprivileged familiar environments and lets them experience their language," said Juergen Gallmann, general manager, Microsoft Germany.

ScanSoft.RealSpeak is the industry's preeminent text-to-speech engine for converting text to human-sounding synthesized speech, offering unmatched global language support. RealSpeak has proven itself as a highly scalable solution within a wide range of applications from leading organizations, including the FIFA World Cup, Nortel, Ericsson, IBM and in other educational programs from Cornelsen, Auralog and Oxford University Press.

"ScanSoft is pleased to provide the text-to-speech technologies behind this renowned initiative, and speech-enabled computers make learning fun and easy for children of all ages," said Peter Hauser, senior vice president and general manager for ScanSoft International. "The use of speech in this initiative demonstrates the momentum we see in more mainstream applications, particularly in areas such as education."

More information on the project in Germany can be found at www.schlaumaeuse.de

About ScanSoft¶ RealSpeak™

ScanSoft RealSpeak is the most widely used TTS solution in the world. RealSpeak is able to read, understand, and convert text information into the most human-sounding male and female voices available. The high quality and intelligibility of RealSpeak enable businesses to deploy highly interactive and user-friendly applications, and with applications like SMS, provide a new level of freedom and ease-of-use to consumers everywhere. The technology is also used for a wide range of applications, including delivering emails for unified messaging systems, providing prompts for interactive voice response (IVR) applications, and speech-enabling mobile, automotive, game and PC/multi-media applications.

About ScanSoft Inc.

ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT) is a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions that are used to automate a wide range of manual processes - saving time, increasing worker productivity and improving customer service. For more information regarding ScanSoft® products and technologies, please visit www.scansoft.com.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft and RealSpeak are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company names or product names referenced herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

ScanSoft notes that the statements in this release that relate to future plans, events, performance, including without limitation projected shipment dates or, customers' opting to upgrade to newer or more fully featured products are forward-looking statements subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the ScanSoft's actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, market acceptance, engineering delays, quality assurance testing delays, contractual negotiations, successful completion of beta site testing, the scheduling of orders, changes in operating systems, a significant change in the competitive environment, timely delivery by component suppliers and other risks detailed from time to time in the ScanSoft's SEC reports. Readers are cautioned not to place undo reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.

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