In this paper, a spurious interference model of Rayleigh scattering for short-range transmission link is constructed, and the relationship between Rayleigh backscattering noise of the system and parameters such as interrogation pulse width, fiber length of transmission link, and Rayleigh scattering rate is summarized by using the parameter characteristics of interference visibility. Both theoretical and experimental results show that the effect of Rayleigh scattering under the short-range transmission does not increase linearly as the fiber length of the transmission link or Rayleigh scattering rate increases. Instead, it tends to be discontinuous. The Rayleigh scattering under the short-range transmission is also closely related to the modulation and demodulation parameters of the interrogation system and changes dynamically as these parameters vary. The research results quantitatively reveal the degradation of fiber-optic hydrophone array with Rayleigh scattering under short-range transmission links and provide significant support for the optimal design of the system under short-range transmission.