Interference between normal vibrato and artificial stimulation of laryngeal muscles at near-vibrato rates.
A stabilized tremor hypothesis for vocal vibrato is investigated. The stabilizer is assumed to be a mechanical oscillator that may contain reflex loops. Artificial stimulation of the cricothyroid muscle in one subject showed a well-defined resonance curve of this peripheral oscillator at approximately 5.0 Hz. Combined artificial stimulation with natural vibrato showed that the vibrato could be entrained by a peripheral stimulus, provided the two frequencies are separated by no more than approximately +/- 0.5 Hz. This suggests that vibrato frequencies are not "hard-wired" centrally, even though a collection of centrally generated tremors may serve as excitation to the peripheral oscillator.
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Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242.
Solomon
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Luschei
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Hirano
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D004558:Electric Stimulation; D006801:Humans; D007821:Laryngeal Muscles / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology*; D007823:Laryngeal Nerves / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000502:physiology; D009146:Music; D010699:Phonation / Q000502:physiology; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D014833:Voice Quality / Q000502:physiology*; D014834:Voice Training