Provided are methods and systems for enhancing the quality of voice communications. The method and corresponding system may involve classifying an audio signal into speech, and speech and noise and creating speech-noise classification data. The method may further involve sharing the speech-noise classification data with a speech encoder via a shared memory or by a Least Significant Bit (LSB) of a Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) stream. The method and corresponding system may also involve sharing acoustic cues with the speech encoder to improve the speech noise classification and, in certain embodiments, sharing scaling transition factors with the speech encoder to enable the speech encoder to gradually change data rate in the transitions between the encoding modes.