Recent developments in thermoacoustics have shown that the quality factor,Q, of an acoustic resonator can be controlled by establishing a temperature gradient across properly positioned thermoacoustic elements. Quite separate from thermoacoustics, acoustic resonators are used in photoacoustic spectroscopy, where a laser beam, modulated at the acoustic resonance frequency, is partially absorbed, thereby producing sound. The photoacoustic signal is typically measured with a microphone, and is proportional to the laser power, to the absorption coefficient, and to the resonatorQ, among other factors. The acoustic signal to noise ratio is proportional toQ1/2. Thermoacoustics can be used to enhance the signal to noise ratio of photoacoustic spectrometers by increasingQ. Measurements and theory are reported for the signal to noise ratio of a photoacoustic cell, with thermoacoustic enhancement, as a function of both resonatorQand the bandwidth of the lock‐in amplifier. Regimes where thermoacoustic enhancement is useful are identified. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.