diff --git a/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/performance.xml b/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/performance.xml
index da96595d85..c696c2f0ee 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/performance.xml
+++ b/pmd-java/src/main/resources/category/java/performance.xml
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ It is much better to use one of the type-specific `toString()` methods instead o
 //AdditiveExpression/PrimaryExpression/PrimaryPrefix/Literal[@Image='""' and not(ancestor::Annotation)]
 |
 //AdditiveExpression/PrimaryExpression/PrimaryPrefix/Name
-  [@Image = //(LocalVariableDeclaration[@Final = true()]|FieldDeclaration[@Final = true()])
+  [@Image = (//FieldDeclaration[@Final = true()]|ancestor::MethodDeclaration//LocalVariableDeclaration[@Final = true()])
                 /VariableDeclarator[@Initializer = true()]
                     [VariableInitializer/Expression/PrimaryExpression/PrimaryPrefix/Literal[@Image='""']]
                     /VariableDeclaratorId/@Name]
diff --git a/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/xml/AddEmptyString.xml b/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/xml/AddEmptyString.xml
index aa3b071b1c..052a50f8ef 100644
--- a/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/xml/AddEmptyString.xml
+++ b/pmd-java/src/test/resources/net/sourceforge/pmd/lang/java/rule/performance/xml/AddEmptyString.xml
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ class Main {
     final String outerString1 = "";
     final String outerString2 = "";
 
-    public static void main(String[] args) {
+    public static void main(String[] args, String otherString) {
         final String innerString1 = "";
         final String innerString2 = "";
 
@@ -110,6 +110,11 @@ class Main {
         String b = outerString2 + 514;
         String c = innerString1 + 1919;
         String d = innerString2 + 810;
+        String e = otherString + 42; // should not be flagged, otherString is a method parameter. Not to be confused with otherString local var in otherMethod
+    }
+
+    void otherMethod() {
+        final String otherString = "";
     }
 }
         ]]></code>