Business Acquisitions (Additional Information) (Detail) (Other Acquisitions [Member], USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2013
Other Acquisitions [Member]
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Business acquisition, purchase price	$ 101.0
Goodwill	51.9
Identifiable intangible assets	$ 42.5
Weighted average life	10 years

The cost of the acquired entity including the cash paid to shareholders of acquired entities, fair value of debt and equity securities issued to shareholders of acquired entities, the fair value of the liabilities assumed, and direct costs of the acquisition

No definition available.

+ Details

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Namespace Prefix:	nuan_
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Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Weighted average amortization period of finite-lived intangible assets acquired either individually or as part of a group of assets, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 350

-SubTopic 30

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (a)(3)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26713463&loc=d3e16265-109275

+ Details

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Period Type:	duration

- Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount of identifiable intangible assets recognized as of the acquisition date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 805

-SubTopic 20

-Section 50

-Paragraph 1

-Subparagraph (c)

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6910749&loc=d3e4845-128472

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 805

-SubTopic 10

-Section 55

-Paragraph 37

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=25498275&loc=d3e2207-128464

+ Details

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Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount recognized for assets, including goodwill, in excess of (less than) the aggregate liabilities assumed.

+ References

+ Details

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Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
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