A reflex resonance model of vocal vibrato.

A reflex mechanism with a long latency (>40 ms) is implicated as a plausible cause of vocal vibrato. At least one pair of agonist-antagonist muscles that can change vocal-fold length is needed, such as the cricothyroid muscle paired with the thyroarytenoid muscle, or the cricothyroid muscle paired with the lateral cricoarytenoid muscle or a strap muscle. Such an agonist-antagonist muscle pair can produce negative feedback instability in vocal-fold length with this long reflex latency, producing oscillations on the order of 5-7 Hz. It is shown that singers appear to increase the gain in the reflex loop to cultivate the vibrato, which grows out of a spectrum of 0-15-Hz physiologic tremors in raw form.