PEABODY, Mass. and KNOXVILLE, Tenn., July 8, 2003 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, today announced that The White Stone Group, Inc., developer of voice-based healthcare information technology, has selected ScanSoft® RealSpeak™ and ScanSoft® SpeechPearl® as the core speech engines for the next generation of The White Stone Group's VoiCert® system.

Used by more than 160 hospitals nationwide, VoiCert automates the procurement of authorized transactions required by managed care payers before medical care can be rendered. VoiCert has been shown to reduce healthcare denied claims - cases in which the payer declines to pay a claim - by more than 50 percent by improving the accuracy of authorization documentation. VoiCert offers a significant time savings as well by reducing a typical 30-minute authorization call for the healthcare provider to less than 3 minutes.

VoiCert's next generation solution will utilize ScanSoft's RealSpeak and SpeechPearl engines to further automate these transactions. By converting the caller's voice to data, VoiCert will submit electronic data files across the Internet to the payer while still maintaining its robust telephonic capabilities. As a result, administrative burdens will be reduced on both the payer call centers and provider claims management departments. VoiCert currently runs on 65 servers in over 160 hospitals representing more than 1,000 communications ports.

"ScanSoft brings us a comprehensive solution that lets us effectively capture the information required to convert voice to data and then process a transaction electronically," said Guille Cruze, CEO of The White Stone Group. "VoiCert has created a standard speech interface for the providers across payer lines while allowing providers and payers to significantly reduce the administrative burden needed to secure authorizations. That, in turn, reduces cost and improves quality in the entire healthcare system."

"We are pleased to partner with The White Stone Group in providing healthcare providers with a streamlined solution that is not only a more efficient way of processing authorized transactions, but also reduces bottom-line costs," said Wayne Crandall, senior vice president of worldwide sales and business development for ScanSoft. "We feel the collaboration between our companies' technologies will lead to a number of successful implementations, signaling the benefit and value speech solutions bring to the healthcare market."

About ScanSoft® RealSpeak™ and SpeechPearl®

ScanSoft RealSpeak is the market-leading product for converting text into human-sounding synthesized speech. The text-to-speech solution, available in 20 languages, is used for a wide range of applications, including implementing voice portals, 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.

ScanSoft's automatic speech recognition (ASR) engine, SpeechPearl, supports more than 40 languages and can process a vocabulary of more than one million words, making it the solution of choice for telephony applications that target global and broad regional markets.

About The White Stone Group

Founded in 1991, The White Stone Group developed VoiCert in 1998 in response to demands from customers for a telephonic software solution that could improve the accuracy and efficiency for completing authorization transactions. The company has offices throughout the United States, and VoiCert is licensed for use in more than 160 hospitals, interfacing with about 90 MCOs representing hundreds of plans. More at www.voicert.com.

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 www.ScanSoft.com.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft, RealSpeak, and SpeechPearl are trademarks or registered trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. in the United States and other countries. VoiCert is a registered trademark of The White Stone Group. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with market trends, competitive factors, and other risks identified in ScanSoft's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

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