'Fitbit' for the brain alerts epilepsy sufferers to incoming seizures

An innovative new device made in Melbourne could help alert epilepsy suffers to when a seizure is imminent.

A team of 100 neurologists, engineers and neuroscientists designed the tiny device, which is implanted behind the ear with a string of electrodes running beneath the scalp to detect brain waves.

The information is then translated into readable signals on a smart phone or computer.

By reading the unique "weather patterns" of the brain, the device learns when a seizure is imminent and can send an alert to the patient or doctor.

“It’s like a weather forecast in that it can say in the next few hours it may be a 60 percent chance of seizures,” Professor Mark Cook from the Graeme Clark Institution said.

“(It gives) people that kind of warning so they can figure out if it's safe to do things,” he added.

The device is providing a ray of hope for Melbourne woman George Frawley- one of  250,000 people living with epilepsy across the nation.

“If this device can help map those seizures for me, that can then lead to surgery which I've got an 80 per cent chance of being cured of epilepsy and not being on medication,” Ms Frawley told 9NEWS.

“It’s not about me now, it’s about my family and my future,” she said.

The device is set for its first round of human trials early next year.

“It'll be a game changer for people because they'll have more control over their life,” Professor Cook said.