A theoretical and experimental study is presented of the aeroelastic instability of the human soft palate, which can explain the occurrence of snoring. The soft palate is modelled by a beam clamped at its leading edge and free at its trailing edge. The continuous and discrete cases are investigated. Only the two first modes of vibration of the soft palate are taken into account. The flow is incompressible, inviscid and one dimensional. Structural damping and flow nonstationarities can be considered. Theory shows that the soft palate loses its stability by flutter and that this instability is mainly controlled by a single dimensionless parameter which can be easily interpreted from a medical point of view. An experimental apparatus which produces sounds very close to human snoring is described. Agreement between theory and experiments is good.