This term covers all disturbing noises from commercial and industrial noise sources. They are usually related to the operation of installations.

The origin of the provisions and the technical set of regulations for noise abatement in the industrial and commercial field (figures 4/1, 4/2 and 4/3) dates back several decades and first concerned issues of worksite protection and worksite medical services. Deafness used to be a common occupational disease as a consequence of workplace nuisances. Technical rules for noise measurement, assessment, prevention and reduction in combination with the accident prevention regulations by professional associations have significantly reduced the risk of coming down with noise-related diseases at one's workplace.

The knowledge of the practical realization of noise abatement in factories gradually gained during the industrialization was a major factor for the development of neighbourhood protection and immission control. And the focus of noise abatement is transferred from measures related to individual projects (immission control, neighbourhood protection) to the field of spatial planning.

Due to the easily applicable polluter pays principle and clear measurement and assessment regulations for installation-oriented industrial noise, existing noise sources of this kind represent a manageable problem as for remedial measures. The costs and restrictions related to acoustic treatment measures may, however, threaten the livelihood of operators of installations.

This is why the field of urban land-use planning must assume the responsibility of preventing the emergence of complaints with subsequent redevelopment requirements. But this is only possible if the local conditions are formed in a way that the operator of an installation meeting the requirement of the best available techniques is able to adhere to the defined immission values as for a neighbourhood requiring protection.

While the immission prognosis for numerous sound sources (especially for road traffic) is very reliable due to established specific emissions, such a projection of noise immissions exists only on the basis of standards or strongly simplifying assumptions as for most of the industrial and commercial installations at the stage of development planning.