1. A comfort noise generation apparatus comprising: a near-end speech detector arranged to detect speech activity in a near-end signal; a far-end silence detector arranged to detect speech activity in a far-end signal; and a comfort noise generator, wherein responsive to an indication from said near-end speech detector that speech activity is absent on the near-end signal and an indication from said far-end silence detector that speech activity is absent on the far-end signal, said comfort noise generator is arranged to initiate a determination of an estimation of near-end background noise, wherein responsive to an indication from said near-end speech detector that speech activity is present on the near-end signal or an indication from said far-end silence detector that speech activity is present on the far-end signal, said comfort noise generator is arranged to terminate the estimation determination of near-end background noise, and wherein said comfort noise generator is arranged to output a function of said near-end background noise estimation.