The white-eared honeyeater's preferred habitat is in forests, woodlands, heathlands, mallee and dry inland scrublands. A eucalyptus canopy, rough bark and a shrub layer are the most important requirements for white-eared honeyeaters. The canopy can provide nectar in spring, the bark can provide insects year round, and the shrub layer is used for nesting and shelter. The white-eared honeyeater prefers mature vegetation with a dense understory.. They are relatively unselective regarding habitat, both floristically and structurally, as they can be found in many different forest and woodland types, and either edge or interior habitats. White-eared honeyeaters can be found in small (< 2 ha) woodland patches. Habitats they do not like are those that are heavily degraded, recently burnt,  or have little to no understory. There are four recognised races of "N. leucotis". Race "leucotis" is found in eastern Australia from Victoria to central Queensland. Proposals that this subspecies may, in fact, consist of two races, on either side of the Great Dividing Range, have recently been confirmed with the description of race "schoddei" from mallee woodland on the Eyre Peninsula, west to near the head of the Great Australian Bight, north-west through the Gawler Ranges and the Yellabinna region, at least to Maralinga.. Evidence for this is that the populations on the eastern, coastal side of the Great Dividing Range have intense green upperparts, and are light greenish-yellow on the belly, whereas, populations in the western, inland side of the Great Dividing Range are a duller olive colour and become slightly smaller. The Nullarbor Plain separates this race from the race "novaenorciae", which is found in Western Australia. The western race "novaenorciae" is categorised on the basis of size differences, being about 20% smaller than race "leucotis". Both populations look very similar, but they have significant genetic differences. Populations of white-eared honeyeaters in Western Australia have significant genetic changes (2.23%) compared to eastern populations; however, there are no significant phenotypic changes. The fourth recognised race is "thomasi", which is found on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Populations of white-eared honeyeaters found in arid regions and the Mallee, as well as all populations of race "novaenorciae", do not need a shrub layer or understory in their habitat.