Ghent, BELGIUM, and PEABODY, Mass -- August 17, 2004 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), the global leader of speech and imaging solutions, today announced that the German Ministry of Health has deployed Steffi, it's latest RealSpeak™ text-to-speech (TTS) solution, to help users who are visually impaired to access the Ministry's online information system.

Designed by comspace, a German telephony integrator, the system provides users who are visually impaired or have reading or language difficulties with access to important content by reading aloud health information in a natural-sounding synthesized voice. The solution is easily customizable, and enables the user to personalize the solution with relevant content and filter out unwanted information. Designed to work directly with a variety of content management systems, including RedDot and Coremedia, the system works with a range of settings and formats, including PDF, Microsoft Word and rich text format (RTF). The service is the first application developed using Steffi, the latest German voice from the SpeechWorks Division of ScanSoft.

"ScanSoft's RealSpeak is proven to be the highest quality TTS available - a fact we uncovered when evaluating a variety of potential solutions," said Andreas Kämmer, Managing Director, comspace. "The flexibility of the ScanSoft solution helped us to integrate the system into the Ministry of Health more quickly than we anticipated, and enables users to access content through a high-quality, natural-sounding voice."

"This deployment is very much in line with a variety of European Union initiatives that aim to provide information to all, regardless of social or geographical differences," said Peter Hauser, senior vice president and general manager for ScanSoft International. "We are pleased to work with comspace to provide an accessibility solution to an underserved market, and ScanSoft is committed to providing solutions that enhance the availability of information to all individuals."

The service can be tested on the Ministry's web site: www.bmgs.bund.de/index.cfm

About ScanSoft's Text-to-Speech Product Portfolio

The SpeechWorks Division offers a full suite of market-leading TTS solutions for embedded and network-based TTS applications that support open, industry standards such as SSML, MRCP and SAPI for empowering VoiceXML- and SALT-based applications among others. The company's network-based TTS solutions provide customers with the most comprehensive and flexible solutions available today, while its embedded TTS solutions are ideal in mobile, automotive, gaming and PC/multi-media environments that require memory footprints ranging from 100KB to 80MB. Customers can also take advantage of SpeechWorks' Virtuoso™ Custom Voice Program to create a custom voice (persona) for their embedded or network-based TTS application, which can also be specifically tuned for a dedicated application domain, such as navigation, financial applications or automated directory services. For more information and to sample SpeechWorks' full portfolio of TTS voices, visit www.scansoft.com/products/.

About comspace GmbH & Co. KG

comspace is an agency for internet solutions and is a competent and reliable partner for complex communication and e-business solutions. The GmbH & Co. KG was founded in 1996 and some of its clients are the German Ministry of Health, aid infodienst, the German Ministry of economy and work and companies as Miele, Phoenix Contact, Empolis / Arvato, Dannemann Cigarrenfabriken and Class. www.comspace.de

About ScanSoft's SpeechWorks Division

SpeechWorks is the most trusted name in speech. Through its global partner network, SpeechWorks delivers field-proven applications that revolutionize the way people interact. Today, thousands of companies and millions of users around the world depend on SpeechWorks® solutions from ScanSoft to deliver vital business information and simplify every day life. For information, please visit www.ScanSoft.com/speech.

About ScanSoft, Inc.

ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT) is the global leader of speech and imaging 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.

ScanSoft, RealSpeak, SpeechWorks, Virtuoso, and the ScanSoft logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other company names or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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