A medium-sized songbird measuring between 18 and 21 centimetres in length with a short crest, the sooty-headed bulbul can be distinguished from the similar red-vented bulbul by its tan front, less extensive area of black on its head and gold-colored vent in certain subspecies.

Its call is a series of whistled notes similar in tone to that of the red-whiskered bulbul, but delivered in a more hurried manner.

Unlike these two species, it appears to prefer dryland agricultural areas above other habitats, but can also be found in fire-damaged and degraded hill shrubland.

[3][4] The sooty-headed bulbul can be found in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, southern China, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

The bird has a disjunct distribution broken into two subpopulations by the Malay Peninsula, where it does not seem to occur between Prachuap Khiri Khan province in Thailand in the north, and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia in the south.