Possible exhaust leak on front pipe above heat insulator

2001 Toyota Corolla CE 160,000 miles 1.8L

theres a fairly loud noise coming from the front of the car when it starts, and when i accelerate.

i can accelerate without it making the noise if i accelerate only a little, after that it just gets louder the more i accelerate. it is similar sounding to someone with a bad muffler, only its coming from the front of the car.

after some research i think i have a good idea of what is going on but im not sure.

up under my car with it running i tried to locate the sound, and noticed hot air "assuming exhaust" coming out in the place where it sounds like its coming from also. its very hard to see and to get to.

from what ive found i guess it could be the gasket in there, im mainly asking because for all i know it may be normal for the hot air to be coming from the location.

im wondering what would need to be done to fix it. or what the actually problem may be. ive attached a picture of the location i am talking about.

thanks in advance