The voice of University of Hawaii sports is a rasp.

For the past seven weeks, Bobby Curran — who has been the play-by-play announcer for UH football and basketball broadcasts for nearly three decades — has been unable to host his popular radio show because of what has been generally termed as “severe laryngitis.”

His last show was on June 29, after which he began experiencing intractable hiccups. His wife vetoed his wish to return to the airwaves the next day.

“I said I think I can get through this,” Curran recalled. “She looked at me and goes, ‘Who is going to listen to that?’ So funny. And she was right.”

He said the hiccups persisted for seven days, during which he estimated he “probably slept eight or nine, 10 hours total the whole week. You can’t sleep with hiccups. You hiccup, and you’re wide awake again. It sucked. It was really brutal.”

By the time medication curtailed the hiccups, Curran had lost more than 20 pounds and his booming voice was reduced to a whisper.

“It destroyed my voice,” Curran said. “It knocked me for a loop.”

Curran said he underwent two CT scans, an MRI, an echocardiogram and other medical tests. It was determined Curran did not suffer a stroke nor experience any problems related to his heart, diaphragm or brain. Curran also tested negative for the coronavirus.

While the origin of the hiccups is not known, doctors are exploring whether Curran’s problems stemmed from sleep apnea. He just completed a home test for the condition and is enrolled in the sleep program at The Queen’s Medical Center.

“We’re full on hoping this sleep apnea is the problem,” Curran said. “I think I had sleep apnea (prior to the hiccups) and it was functional. Now I think we’re at the point where it’s no longer functional.”

Curran said other avenues will be explored if apnea is ruled out as the main cause.

His primary physician has assured Curran that his voice eventually will be back to normal. But no timetable has been predicted for his return to “The Bobby Curran Show” on KKEA 1420-AM (92.7-FM).

“The doctor said, ‘you’ll go back when I tell you to go back,’ ” Curran said. “He said, ‘you need to chill on this. You need to stay out until you’re ready.’ ”

With UH’s football season postponed, his next play-by-play assignment will be in November for the projected opener of the Rainbow Warriors’ basketball season.

Curran said his cohorts have been supportive. He said he has received encouraging texts and calls from UH coaches and staff members. He said his wife’s friends have sent him herbal teas. But Curran acknowledged it has been a struggle to be patient during the healing process. Except for two years because of a non-compete clause, Curran has announced UH sports since 1989. That also was the same year he started a morning radio show. Curran is regularly atop the ratings for local talk shows. He was named the National Sports Media Association’s Hawaii Sportscaster of the Year for 2019.