In this study, a theoretical model has been constructed to address the optimization of matching layers for tone burst excitation underwater acoustic transducers and to investigate the functional mechanism change of matching layers. Single, double, and triple matching layers are attached to piezoelectric composite plates, and tone burst signals with a different number of burst-cycles are applied. Acoustic pressure function (Sp) and acoustic pressure transient response (PTR) are compared among these transducers. The results demonstrated that when the cycle number M ≤ 2, more matching layers lead to shorter ringdown with similar PTR amplitude. Since the objective is for better axial resolution, three matching layers have noticeable advantage, whereas for the case of M > 5, far detection distance is the main objective, and more matching layers caused the decrease in PTR amplitude. Besides, matching layers become part of the resonance structure; they do not serve as a transmission medium anymore. Therefore, the transducer with single matching is optimal for the long tone burst excitation. For the case of 2-5 cycle excitation, one may use double matching layers, which has a balance between the transmitting voltage response amplitude and bandwidth. With the increase in M, the role of matching layers changes from a bridging transmission medium to amplifying vibration velocity and introducing additional vibration modes to broaden the bandwidth.