1. Subject has acute exacerbation of COPD - within 1 week of acute hospitalization

2. Subject has respiratory rate at rest \> 28/min

3. Subject requires \> 5 L/min nasal O2/min to maintain O2sat \> 90%

4. Subject has severe dyspnea at rest

5. Subject has swallowing disorders or chronic aspiration, prior esophageal surgery, or any other condition that would place the subject at risk during balloon placement.

6. Subject has history of pneumothorax secondary to lung bullae.

7. Subject is too cognitively impaired to give subjective ratings for visual analog scale

8. Subject has sensitivity or an allergy to lidocaine

9. Subject has known history of oxygen intolerance.

Evaluation of Breathe NIOV System on Work of Breathing in Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease Patients

What this study is about