diff --git a/jitsi-media-transform/src/main/kotlin/org/jitsi/nlj/transform/node/incoming/AudioLevelReader.kt b/jitsi-media-transform/src/main/kotlin/org/jitsi/nlj/transform/node/incoming/AudioLevelReader.kt
index d57957e3f2..4f7a2557da 100644
--- a/jitsi-media-transform/src/main/kotlin/org/jitsi/nlj/transform/node/incoming/AudioLevelReader.kt
+++ b/jitsi-media-transform/src/main/kotlin/org/jitsi/nlj/transform/node/incoming/AudioLevelReader.kt
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ class AudioLevelReader(
                     val silence = level == MUTED_LEVEL
 
                     if (!silence) stats.nonSilence(AudioLevelHeaderExtension.getVad(ext))
-                    if (silence && forwardedSilencePackets > forwardedSilencePacketsLimit) {
+                    if (silence && discardSilence && forwardedSilencePackets > forwardedSilencePacketsLimit) {
                         packetInfo.shouldDiscard = true
                         stats.discardedSilence()
                     } else if (this@AudioLevelReader.forceMute) {
@@ -111,6 +111,9 @@ class AudioLevelReader(
         private val forwardedSilencePacketsLimit: Int by config {
             "jmt.audio.level.forwarded-silence-packets-limit".from(JitsiConfig.newConfig)
         }
+        private val discardSilence: Boolean by config {
+            "jmt.audio.level.discard-silence".from(JitsiConfig.newConfig)
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/jitsi-media-transform/src/main/resources/reference.conf b/jitsi-media-transform/src/main/resources/reference.conf
index 9fc672b7a0..663266774b 100644
--- a/jitsi-media-transform/src/main/resources/reference.conf
+++ b/jitsi-media-transform/src/main/resources/reference.conf
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@ jmt {
       // Number of RTP packets with 0 audio level to forward before start discarding (to avoid CNG noise in muted state
       // if DTX is enabled).
       forwarded-silence-packets-limit = 3
+
+      // Whether to discard packets marked with silence (audio level 0) in the receive pipeline.
+      discard-silence = true
     }
   }