Section 49-DD. Posthumous schedule awards

If an employee shall die before
  he shall have been removed from exposure to harmful noise for  a  period
  of  at least three consecutive months as hereinbefore provided, an award
  may be made payable in accordance with  the  provisions  of  subdivision
  four  of  section  fifteen  of  this chapter and such award shall not be
  barred by the fact that the deceased shall not have  been  removed  from
  harmful noise for a period of at least three consecutive months. In such
  case  the  extent  and  degree  of  the  employee's occupational loss of
  hearing, and the  award,  if  any,  to  be  paid  for  such  loss  under
  subdivision   three  of  section  fifteen  of  this  chapter,  shall  be
  determined upon the submission of proper proof of the occupational  loss
  of  hearing  sustained by the deceased employee. The date of disablement
  shall be the date of the employee's death.