Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/srussDWNdZU   Playing sports enhances your brain’s ability to process environmental sounds and eliminate background noise.  Neuroscientists at Northwestern University report this finding after studying nearly 500 student-athletes and matched controls.   Delivering speech through earbuds and recording participants’ brain waves, researchers discovered playing collegiate sports enhances a player’s ability to extract meaningful speech from their environment by effectively suppressing background noise.  In contrast, other research shows that the brains of musicians and multi-lingual individuals amplify meaningful sounds rather than suppressing background noise.   Hearing better is yet another reason to be physically active.  The trick is to play non-contact sports like tennis, volleyball, and track that pose no risk to your brain’s overall physical health.   Jennifer Krizman, Tory Lindley, Silvia Bonacina, Danielle Colegrove, Travis White-Schwoch, Nina Kraus. Play Sports for a Quieter