Abstract: From the communication point of view, transmission performances of a hydroacoustic channel are strongly limited due to multiple reflections of sound waves on the bottom and water surface, and to the nonstationarity caused mainly by water surface movement. This article presents a model of channel transmission properties which introduces nonstationarity to the channel impulse responses by assuming random variability of arrival times and amplitudes of subsequent elements of the impulse response. Transmission properties of this kind of channel have been tested in a digital simulator, using binary PSK and FSK signals. The results indicate that transmission velocity in such channels is reduced.