Care Providers Can Use Speech to Enter Patient Information into EMR, HIS and Microsoft Office Applications, Reducing or Eliminating Manual Transcription Costs

PEABODY, Mass., April 15, 2003 - ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSFT), a leading supplier of imaging, speech and language solutions, today announced the immediate availability of Dragon NaturallySpeaking® 7 Medical, a new release of the world's best-selling speech recognition solution designed specifically for healthcare organizations. Already in use at thousands of healthcare facilities worldwide, Dragon NaturallySpeaking converts speech into text at up to 160 words per minute, automating the input of patient information and saving thousands of dollars per doctor, per year, when compared to manual processes.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical delivers accuracy levels as high as 99 percent, a 15 percent improvement over the previous release. It also includes new functionality important to healthcare organizations of all sizes, including eliminating the dependency on headset microphones through support for array microphones and Microsoft Pocket PC devices; the ability to speech enable electronic medical records (EMR) and healthcare information systems (HIS); and enabling enterprise-wide deployments by supporting network based administration of voice profiles, custom vocabularies and software installation.

"Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical delivers the features and ease-of-use required to make speech recognition a mainstream solution for healthcare professionals everywhere," said Michael Feldman, MD of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. "ScanSoft has focused on delivering the most important features needed to cut transcription costs: highly accurate and easy-to-use speech recognition. Our organization saves time and money using Dragon NaturallySpeaking, and we get immediate access to data instead of waiting days to review and process patient information."

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical has built-in understanding for more than 250,000 words, and includes additional vocabularies covering terms found in general medicine, pathology, radiology, cardiology and surgery disciplines. Healthcare organizations can also easily add their own words to the solution to create fully customized vocabularies either on individual workstations or throughout a network. Care providers can take advantage of voice-activated shortcuts, allowing a single word or phrase to automatically populate fields in an EMR, or to simply generate full paragraphs of standardized text. For example, a voice-shortcut of "insert standard flu symptoms" could be used to populate an EMR system or Microsoft Word template with complete paragraphs of data.

Over and above the accuracy and performance gains in the new release, ScanSoft has implemented new capabilities within the product that overcome historical limitations associated with speech recognition in healthcare settings. New support for array and wireless microphones allow care providers to use the product in a more natural way, without being tethered to a PC by a headset microphone. Support for mobile dictation, a mainstay of the profession, has been expanded to process recorded speech from Microsoft Pocket PC devices, in addition to digital recording devices from Panasonic, Sony and others.

ScanSoft has also delivered new features that add value to investments being made to automate processing patient information. The new release simplifies using the product to add speech input and voice control capabilities to commercial and in-house automation solutions, including EMR, PAC (Picture Archiving and Communication) and HIS solutions. The product also instantly speech-enables a wide range of commercial PC applications and is widely used to enter patient information into Microsoft Word templates and database applications - completely by voice.

The new network administration capabilities within the product are of particular value to mid- and large-size healthcare facilities. Installation and maintenance of multi-seat and site deployments have been simplified through support for MSI (Microsoft Installer), while centralized management for voice profiles and custom vocabularies is made possible through the ScanSoft® DNS Administrator.

"The integration of speech recognition within EMR and HIS systems provides organizations with a powerful way to streamline the collection and workflow of patient information," said E. Ross Weinstein, President of Voicebrook Inc., a New York speech technology consultancy and software developer, specializing in the healthcare industry. "We congratulate ScanSoft on the new release of Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical, as it delivers the accuracy, integration and network capabilities needed to bring the benefits of speech recognition to organizations of any size."

The World's Best Speech Recognition for Healthcare Professionals Made Better

To help healthcare organizations improve the quality and productivity of patient care, and reduce or eliminate manual transcription costs, ScanSoft has added a number of key capabilities to Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical, including:

Most Accurate Ever - Significant improvements to the Dragon NaturallySpeaking recognition system has yielded an unprecedented accuracy improvement of up to 15 percent over the previous release, resulting in speech recognition accuracy levels as high as 99 percent.

Fastest Ever - More than 50 percent improvement in the initialization time of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 enables "10 seconds to dictation" on baseline systems. Users can train the software on their voice patterns in just five minutes.

Extensible Integration with EMR, HIS and Microsoft Office - Nearly all standard Microsoft Windows applications, including EMR and HIS applications, are speech enabled simply by installing Dragon NaturallySpeaking, allowing the use of all interface menus and input fields simply by speaking. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical comes with enhanced compatibility modules for the full Microsoft Office Suite and Corel Word Perfect.

Mobile Dictation Support - Users can now "talk-and-dock" using standard Pocket PC devices, in addition to handheld digital recorders, to record mobile dictation for automatic transcription when they synch to their PCs.

Support for Array Microphones and Wireless Headsets - This release represents the first Dragon NaturallySpeaking to support array and wireless microphones, giving users the freedom to dictate without being tethered to their PC by a wired headset.

Integrated with Medical Vocabularies - Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical comes with pre-configured specialty vocabularies for general medicine, pathology, radiology, cardiology and surgery. Tools that are included with the software can be used to easily build a custom vocabulary for any user-specific lexicon.

Speech Recognition for Developers and System Integrators -DNS SDK (Software Developers Kit) enables integrators to add custom speech capabilities to commercial and in-house EMR and HIS applications, and can be deployed on a central server for "off line" or "back end" speech recognition.

New Vocabulary Optimizer - Users can instruct Dragon NaturallySpeaking to instantly analyze sentence structure and word use frequency in previously created documents. Dragon NaturallySpeaking then automatically adjusts the recognition engine to match the user's unique writing patterns, thereby further increasing accuracy.

Improved RealSpeak Proofing - The time and effort needed to proofread a document created by voice has been significantly reduced with ScanSoft RealSpeak Proofing, which reads email and document text aloud in a human-sounding synthesized voice. Dragon NaturallySpeaking can also play back the original voice recording associated with any dictated document, which facilitates third party transcription editing.

Expanded Custom Voice Shortcuts - The ability to create custom voice shortcuts, where a word or phrase will trigger the insertion of standardized text, has been expanded. Users can create a custom voice shortcut for standard letter closings -including a graphic of their signature - and have it automatically added to their email or Microsoft Word correspondence by simply saying the shortcut command (i.e. "Add signature") The inserted text now automatically matches the font of the destination document.

Section 508 Accessibility - Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical can help people with disabilities achieve maximum productivity on PCs, as well as help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and other musculoskeletal disorders. Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 is the only PC dictation application that meets U.S. Section 508 mandates, which were established by the federal government to insure access to technology by people with disabilities.

Network Administration - Dragon NaturallySpeaking Medical is available with a pre-configured MSI file for push installations throughout a network environment. The new ScanSoft DNS Administrator utility enables IT professionals to manage and update user profiles and vocabularies from a central network location.
"We are seeing provider organizations accelerate their investments in solutions that automate manual processes," said Robert Weideman, chief marketing officer at ScanSoft. "Whether driven by the desire to deliver improved patient care or to meet government mandates, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Dragon Naturally Speaking 7 Medical is a powerful solution that enables the entire organization to become more productive."

Availability and Pricing

ScanSoft Dragon NaturallySpeaking 7 Medical is available immediately through ScanSoft's professional sales organization and global network of reseller partners. The suggested retail price is $995 for individual users, with multi-seat and site license discounts available. For additional information on features, pricing and volume licensing programs, please visit www.ScanSoft.com or call (1) 800-443-7077.

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, the ScanSoft logo, RealSpeak and Dragon NaturallySpeaking are registered trademarks or trademarks of ScanSoft, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company 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, event 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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