We estimated the near-surface attenuation in a multi-layered geological setting by comparing energy decay along reflection and refraction traveltime curves in observed and modelled seismic data. A 2D visco-acoustic finite-difference code provided the synthetic data. We applied the method to synthetic and to field data .The incorporation of topography and source and receiver elevations, both in the modelling and in the computed traveltimes, led to sharper estimates of the attenuation factors, especially for deeper layers.