<p>This study develops a fractional damage-dependent model for thermoacoustic wave propagation in a fluid-saturated poroelastic medium subjected to exponentially decaying laser heating. The formulation integrates Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity theory with a fractional-order generalized thermoelastic framework and a damage mechanics approach to account simultaneously for size-dependent interactions, thermal memory effects, and material degradation. The porous medium is modeled as a coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical system in which temperature, displacement, pore pressure, and acoustic pressure evolve through strong multiphysics interactions. Material deterioration is incorporated through damage-dependent constitutive parameters, allowing the influence of microstructural defects and stiffness reduction on wave propagation characteristics to be quantified. Analytical solutions are obtained using the normal-mode method in a two-dimensional configuration, leading to explicit expressions for the governing field variables. Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the effects of the fractional-order parameter, damage level, and nonlocal length scale on thermal, mechanical, hydrodynamic, and acoustic responses. The results reveal that fractional thermal memory significantly modifies wave attenuation and phase behavior, while damage intensifies deformation and alters stress transmission within the porous skeleton. Furthermore, the interaction between nonlocality and damage produces pronounced changes in pore-pressure evolution and thermoacoustic signal propagation. The proposed model provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for describing wave phenomena in degraded porous materials exposed to rapid thermal excitation and offers potential applications in photoacoustic diagnostics, laser ultrasonics, structural health monitoring, geothermal systems, and advanced porous engineering materials.</p>