A user equipment device comprising: physical layer circuitry configured to transmit and receive radio frequency electrical signals with one or more nodes of a radio access network; an audio subsystem configured to generate frames of audio data; and processing circuitry configured to: calculate a time delay from generation of an audio data frame by the audio subsystem of the UE device to transmission of an audio data packet by the physical layer circuitry during a voice call, including a beginning of the voice call and when the voice call is active; initiate discarding of one or more pulse code modulation samples by the audio subsystem during the voice call to decrease the time delay between the audio data frame generation and the transmission of the audio data packet to a delay value that preserves a specified minimum time for delivery of the generated audio data frame to the physical layer circuitry to meet a scheduled transmission time of the audio data packet; and time a specified timeout duration during the voice call and initiate discarding of a specified number of PCM samples corresponding to speech activity when PCM samples corresponding to no speech activity are undetected upon expiration of the timeout duration. physical layer circuitry configured to transmit and receive radio frequency electrical signals with one or more nodes of a radio access network; an audio subsystem configured to generate frames of audio data; and processing circuitry configured to: calculate a time delay from generation of an audio data frame by the audio subsystem of the UE device to transmission of an audio data packet by the physical layer circuitry during a voice call, including a beginning of the voice call and when the voice call is active; initiate discarding of one or more pulse code modulation samples by the audio subsystem during the voice call to decrease the time delay between the audio data frame generation and the transmission of the audio data packet to a delay value that preserves a specified minimum time for delivery of the generated audio data frame to the physical layer circuitry to meet a scheduled transmission time of the audio data packet; and time a specified timeout duration during the voice call and initiate discarding of a specified number of PCM samples corresponding to speech activity when PCM samples corresponding to no speech activity are undetected upon expiration of the timeout duration. calculate a time delay from generation of an audio data frame by the audio subsystem of the UE device to transmission of an audio data packet by the physical layer circuitry during a voice call, including a beginning of the voice call and when the voice call is active; initiate discarding of one or more pulse code modulation samples by the audio subsystem during the voice call to decrease the time delay between the audio data frame generation and the transmission of the audio data packet to a delay value that preserves a specified minimum time for delivery of the generated audio data frame to the physical layer circuitry to meet a scheduled transmission time of the audio data packet; and time a specified timeout duration during the voice call and initiate discarding of a specified number of PCM samples corresponding to speech activity when PCM samples corresponding to no speech activity are undetected upon expiration of the timeout duration.