1. A method of coding a first signal at a predetermined bit rate, the first signal reflecting speech information and comprising sets of signal segments, each set comprising a plurality of N signal segments, the method comprising the steps of: a. coding the N signal segments of a set with a first speech coder to provide a first coded representation for each of the N signal segments; b. for each of one or more of the N signal segments, forming a second signal reflecting speech information not coded by the first speech coder; and c. responsive to a coding criterion, coding a number, M, of second signals with a second speech coder to provide a second coded representation for each of said M second signals, where 1&lt;M&lt;N-1 and where the number of second signals coded, M, is determined based on the predetermined bit rate; such that, of said N signal segments, a number, P, of said signal segments are coded with use of the first speech coder, said M signal segments are coded with use of both the first and second speech coders, and wherein N=P+M.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of signal segments is coded a plurality of times with use of the first and second speech coders to form a plurality of modified coded representations of the set, and wherein a particular modified coded representation is selected to represent the set responsive to the coding criterion.