Innovative Speech Solutions Enhance Nuance Leadership Position for Ad-Supported Directory Assistance

Powered by Nuance automatic speech recognition (ASR) and text-to-speech (TTS) applications, the new service interprets the type of business the caller requests and offers relevant listings from approximately 900 business categories. Callers can state their information requests using an infinite variety of phrases or terms to search by city and state. Users may also choose to narrow location terminology such as a street, neighborhood or landmark. When a relevant business is not available in the locality the caller requests, the Jingle system offers an appropriate business match beyond the requested area.

Category search will provide a new opportunity for consumers to find businesses who can service their needs. “Working with Nuance, we’re able to offer these callers a quick and simple way to find information about businesses in the locality of interest to them,” said Scott Kliger, chief technology officer, Jingle Networks. “Category search will also be especially valuable for local and regional advertisers who will have the opportunity to uniquely reach prospects at the point of sale and make an impact on those consumers who have not selected a brand.”

Ad-Supported Business Model

As with Jingle’s traditional 411 service, the business category search service is free and engages callers with brief, targeted marketing offers while their requested category information is retrieved. Nuance speech solutions are fully integrated with Jingle’s advertising engines for delivery of promotions related to the category request.

This ad-supported business model has created a compelling new alternative in the directory assistance (DA) industry, as both consumers and advertisers rapidly embrace the service. Powered by Nuance’s automated DA solutions, Jingle has processed more than 170 million calls since the free 411 service’s launch in September 2005, with a monthly call volume that has increased more than 300 percent over the past year.

“Nuance continues to push technical and business innovation boundaries to offer providers such as Jingle DA the best caller experience with the highest automation rates,” said Michael Thompson, vice president and general manager, telco search and communications, Nuance. “Our newest speech solutions for automated directory assistance are helping to expand the ad-supported DA business model beyond simple look-up tasks. We’ve worked with Jingle to improve the breadth and content of its search applications, bringing a more intelligent approach to handling caller requests.”

About Jingle Networks

Jingle Networks is creating an exciting new media network through 1-800-FREE411, the nation’s leading advertiser-supported directory assistance service, which is revolutionizing the directory assistance industry by offering consumers a free alternative to the high cost 411 services provided by landline carriers and mobile phone companies. 1-800-FREE411 is supported by national and local advertisers who use 1-800-FREE411 as both a branding and direct-response media channel to target messages to callers within the context of a normal-length 411 call. In addition, FREE411.com on the Internet provides consumers with an easy to use Web-based resource for telephone number lookups. For more information, visit: www.free411.com.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance (Nasdaq: NUAN) is a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies, applications and services make the user experience more compelling by transforming the way people interact with information and how they create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and thousands of businesses experience Nuance's proven applications. For more information, please visit www.nuance.com.

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