Athletes have a heightened ability to quiet down electrical noise in their brains to make sense of external sounds than non-athletes, a new study published Monday in the journal Sports Health reveals.

In the study, researchers at Northwestern University measured the brain activity of 1,000 male and female subjects, 500 of whom played for Division 1 college sports teams, using scalp electrodes while the subjects listened to speech syllables through headphones.

"No one would argue against the fact that sports lead to better physical fitness, but we don't always think of brain fitness and sports," senior research Nina Kraus is quoted as saying in the press release. "We're saying that playing sports can tune the brain to better understand one's sensory environment."

"Think of background electrical noise in the brain like static on the radio," Kraus explained. "There are two ways to hear the DJ better: minimize the static or boost the DJ's voice. We found that athlete's brains minimize the background 'static' to hear the 'DJ' better."