The time evolution of the inhomogeneous curing process of polystyrene emulsions is studied using a variant of the conventional photoacoustic (PA) technique. The thermal effusivity, as a function of time, is determined in order to monitor the sintering process of a styrene emulsion in different steps of the manufacturing procedure. PA measurements of thermal effusivity show a sigmoidal growth as a function of time during the curing process. The parameterization of these curves permits the determination of the characteristic curing time and velocity of the process. A decreasing of the curing time and an increasing curing velocity for the final steps of the manufacturing process are observed. The feasibility of our approach and its potentiality for the characterization of other curing process are discussed.