A ‘pacemaker’ for the brain is on the horizon to prevent people with Parkinson’s and epilepsy suffering from seizures and tremors.

The device is made up of two tiny array of electrodes which sit inside the skull, and link to a circuit board on the side of the head.

The ‘pacemaker’ records the normal electrical current of the brain continually and if it notices a change of rhythm immediately fires a stimulating charge to coax the pulse back to normal.

Similar deep brain stimulation is already used for people with Parkinson's or epilepsy, but the electrical signatures that precede a seizure or tremor can be extremely subtle, and the frequency and strength of stimulation required to prevent them is tricky to determine meaning it can take years to fine-tune.

However the new device is constantly listening for disruptions in the electrical current so it can make instant adjustments.

“The process of finding the right therapy for a patient is extremely costly and can take years,” said Dr Rikky Muller assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at at The University of California, Berkeley.

“We want to enable the device to figure out what is the best way to stimulate for a given patient to give the best outcomes. And you can only do that by listening and recording the neural signatures."