A wireless communications device includes a receiver that transmits and receives speech signals to and from a remote party via a wireless communications network. The received speech signals include information representative of one or more audible sounds associated with the remote party. The audible sounds may be, for example, words uttered by the remote party, or a predetermined audio message associated with the remote party. A speech processing unit in the user's device converts the received speech signals into corresponding text based on an operating mode of the wireless communications device. The converted text is then displayed to the user on a display. Alternatively, the remote party's wireless communication device or a network entity may convert speech to text for transmission to the user based on an indicated operating mode of the wireless communications device associated with the user.