Adaptive De-Jitter Buffer for Voice over IP (VoIP) for packet switched communications. The de-jitter buffer methods and apparatus presented modify the playback of packets dependent upon whether silence periods are detected inter-sentence or intra-sentence to optimize voice quality in a communication system. In one example, a de-jitter buffer determines the length of at least one silence period associated with a plurality of received packets and determines a time to transmit a portion of the packets based on the determined length of the silence period. In another example, a silence characterizer unit performs this function.