A 2019 study treated the cream-eyed population on Borneo as a species distinct from the very similar Cream-vented Bulbul. Their plumage is alike, but the cream-eyed birds were recorded in mature forest interior and edge.
Its iris is creamy yellow to pale yellow, the key identifying feature of the Bornean white-eyed population. The body is mostly olive-brown, with a yellower throat and vent contrasting with the darker breast and flanks.
Researchers recorded it in mature forest interior and edge, including at the edge of mature dipterocarp forest and in low-elevation kerangas forest near sea level. Their records suggest it is rarer and possibly more habitat-restricted than the red-eyed relative.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.