ventilation is inadequate to sustain life, in the majority of cases due to acute respiratory failure, postoperative management, cardiac insufficiency, sepsis, trauma, or neurological problems. Of note, the provision of invasive respiratory support usually requires the placement of an endotracheal tube (ETT) as a conduit for mechanical ventilation, which could serve also to provide airway support for subjects with upper airway abnormalities. Recent epidemiological investigations reported that in the United States about 800,000 paediatric and adult patients are treated with mechanical ventilation each year [11 Indeed, MV is a critical component frequently used also in neonatal intensive care, both in term and preterm newborns, with about 27% of all infants admitted to intensive care units undergoing mechanical ventilation, predominantly for treating pulmonary insufficiency 12]. This is particularly