A device comprising an audio information processor to receive at least one audio stream encoded according to a first protocol by a remote network processing device, the audio stream having associated comfort noise information to indicate a level of background noise available for presentation during silence periods associated with the audio stream, the audio information processor to decode the received audio stream according to the first protocol and to encode the decoded audio stream according to a second protocol, and a background noise translator to convert the comfort noise information received with the audio stream into a format compatible with the second protocol.