ScanSoft Introduces New Academic Licensing Program
for Dragon NaturallySpeaking

New Licensing Program Makes It Easy for Education Institutions to Purchase Award-Winning Speech Recognition Software for Wide Distribution at a Lower Cost to Faculty, Staff, Students

BURLINGTON, Mass., July 7, 2004 – ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a global leader of speech and imaging solutions, today announced the ScanSoft® Academic Site License Program, a new academic licensing program that allows academic institutions to take advantage of ScanSoft® Dragon NaturallySpeaking® 8 across an entire organization. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 is the world’s leading speech recognition solution, enabling the automatic conversion of speech into text at up to 160 words per minute, and allowing the voice-control of software applications simply by speaking.

The ScanSoft Academic Site License Program makes it easy for education institutions including schools, colleges and universities to purchase licenses of Dragon NaturallySpeaking for distribution throughout their entire organization. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 8 includes accessibility for those with disabilities or special needs, and increases efficiencies for students, teachers, administrators and staff. Using Dragon NaturallySpeaking with PCs, PDAs, Tablet PCs, and other mobile devices, students can create term papers and reports, teachers and administrators can create assignments or internal reports, and students or staff with special needs can access technology – all by voice.

“We have been very pleased with Dragon NaturallySpeaking for students, staff, and faculty,” said Diane Hartman, assistant professor, Multimedia Communication Technology, Utah Valley State College. “Not only have our students, staff, and faculty achieved remarkable accuracy and increased productivity with Dragon NaturallySpeaking but also they have found that using speech recognition has improved their overall experience and attitude towards computers. We’re excited to be at the forefront of using and researching this technology.”

Dragon NaturallySpeaking converts speech into text at up to 160 words-per-minute, at accuracy levels of up to 99 percent, and allows users to control Microsoft Windows and many of their PC applications completely by voice. The product is tightly integrated with Microsoft Office, and allows users to create new documents and e-mails, navigate programs, and surf the Web, all by voice.

“ Hundreds of schools, colleges and universities already rely on Dragon NaturallySpeaking,” said John Shagoury, president, ScanSoft Productivity Applications Division. “The Academic Site License Program makes it easy for education institutions to take advantage of speech recognition to reduce costs, improve efficiencies, and enable access for those with disabilities or special needs.”

ScanSoft Dragon NaturallySpeaking Academic Site License Program

The ScanSoft Academic Site License Program is available through ScanSoft Educational Authorized Resellers. For additional information please visit www.scansoft.com/sales or call (1) 800-443-7077.

About ScanSoft, Inc.

ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT) is a 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.

Trademark reference: ScanSoft, the ScanSoft logo Dragon, and NaturallySpeaking are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other company or product names mentioned 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.