Abstract: Aiming at the problem that the inherent bearing estimation bias of horizontal arrays caused by the influence of sound ray elevation angles, a deep-sea near-surface target bearing estimation method incorporating tilted array self-decoupling technology is proposed. The method utilizes the spatial resolution advantages of tilted arrays in both horizontal and vertical directions. By analyzing the propagation paths of four multipaths, a mathematical model is established to describe the relationships among sound ray elevation angle, source azimuth angle, array tilt angle and array observation angle. The research results demonstrate that under shallow-depth transmission and reception conditions, the absolute values of the elevation angles of the four multipaths are approximately equal. Based on this characteristic, the decoupling of elevation angle and azimuth angle is achieved, and an analytical expression for azimuth angle estimation is derived. Furthermore, by analyzing the array aperture and Cramér-Rao bound, selection criteria for the array tilt angle are proposed. Under simulated conditions, the bearing estimation performance of the method is verified by varying parameters such as source azimuth, array tilt angle, and transmission-reception distance. The experimental results show good consistency with the theoretical analysis.