A wireless access node to facilitate communication quality adjustments during voice over long term evolution (VoLTE) communication sessions comprises a wireless communication transceiver and a processing system. The wireless communication transceiver is configured to exchange VoLTE packets with a wireless communication device during a VoLTE emergency call with a public safety answering point (PSAP), and receive a scheduling request transmitted from the PSAP, wherein the scheduling request includes an identifier associated with the wireless communication device and specifies hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) settings for the VoLTE emergency call. The processing system is configured to, responsive to the scheduling request, issue a scheduling grant to the wireless communication device based on the HARQ settings specified in the scheduling request.