A tongue piercing has long been a fashion statement, but now scientists have found a practical use that could change the lives of some people with severe physical disabilities.

An experimental device is enabling paralysed people to drive wheelchairs simply by flicking their tongue in the right direction. Users get their tongue pierced with a magnetic stud that resembles jewellery but acts like a joystick for a wireless system.

Researchers said on Wednesday that 11 people paralysed from the neck down rapidly learned to use the device to pilot their wheelchairs through an obstacle course full of twists and turns, and to operate a computer.

"It's really powerful because it's so intuitive," said Jason DiSanto, 39, who was among the first spinal cord injury patients to try out the system. "The first time I did it, people thought I was driving for, like, years."

Researchers in Atlanta and Chicago put the tongue drive system to the test against one of the most widely used rival technologies, called sip-and-puff, which users operate by breathing into a straw. Using the tongue, patients were able to drive their wheelchairs faster but just as accurately – and on average, they performed about three times better on videogame-like tests, said lead researcher Maysam Ghovanloo, director of Georgia Institute of Technology's bionics lab.

The research, reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine, is an early step that allowed use of the device only inside laboratories. Larger studies in real-world conditions are required before it ever could be sold. And the tongue piercing may be a turn-off for some potential users, the researchers acknowledge.

But the work is attracting attention from specialists who say there's a big need for more assistive technologies for the severely disabled.

Jason DiSanto having his tongue pierced for the study. Photograph: Reuters

"For people who have very limited ability to control a power wheelchair, there aren't that many options," said Dr Brad Dicianno, a rehabilitation specialist at the University of Pittsburgh medical centre, who wasn't involved with the new research. "There is some interesting promise for this tongue control."

The system works using a headset that detects the tongue's position when the user flicks the magnetic stud. The headset sends that information wirelessly to a smartphone app that controls the wheelchair or the computer cursor.

Why the tongue? "It's unobtrusive, easy to use and flexible," said Ghovanloo, a biomedical engineer who created the system and has started a company that is working with Georgia Tech to commercialise it.

Most people with spinal cord injuries or neurological diseases that result in paralysis still can move the tongue, and like the fingers and hand, the tongue and mouth are capable of multiple complex movements, Ghovanloo said. He led the team of researchers from Atlanta's Shepherd centre for spinal injuries, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University.

DiSanto, an electrical engineer paralysed from the neck down in a 2009 diving accident, said the headset is less intrusive than the sip-and-puff device he normally uses, which requires a straw-like tube to be worn in front of his face. More important, he said, the tongue drive gave him more control, allowing him to move diagonally, for example.

As for the piercing, "there is some getting used to it," said DiSanto, who got his in 2011. It took about a week to heal, and speaking and eating felt funny initially.

The study tested the device in 23 able-bodied and 11 paralysed participants. All of the disabled volunteers preferred the system to their regular device, said co-author Joy Bruce, who heads the Shepherd centre's spinal cord injury lab. But patients who were older or worried that a tongue stud wasn't acceptable in their profession decided against participating.

Ten other patients signed up but dropped out. One had the piercing fall out, researchers reported, while others had problems finding transportation to the study site, unrelated medical issues or lost interest.

Ghovanloo plans to add functions to the smartphone app to let users turn on the TV or the lights with a flick of the tongue. He's also made the device less visible – putting the headset's sensors on a dental retainer instead. Studies begin soon to tell if that approach works without compromising users' speech.

DiSanto has signed up for that next round of testing. "Somebody that's in a wheelchair already has a stigma," he said. "If there was something that could be developed to control my wheelchair and the environment around me, to make me more independent without having to have medical devices coming out of my mouth, it would be a huge benefit."