diff --git a/icefall/utils.py b/icefall/utils.py
index 0feff9dc8..3e4b19e04 100644
--- a/icefall/utils.py
+++ b/icefall/utils.py
@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ def load_alignments(filename: str) -> Tuple[int, Dict[str, List[int]]]:
 
 
 def store_transcripts(
-    filename: Pathlike, texts: Iterable[Tuple[str, str, str]]
+    filename: Pathlike, texts: Iterable[Tuple[str, str, str]], char_level: bool = False
 ) -> None:
     """Save predicted results and reference transcripts to a file.
 
@@ -436,6 +436,9 @@ def store_transcripts(
     """
     with open(filename, "w") as f:
         for cut_id, ref, hyp in texts:
+            if char_level:
+                ref = list("".join(ref))
+                hyp = list("".join(hyp))
             print(f"{cut_id}:\tref={ref}", file=f)
             print(f"{cut_id}:\thyp={hyp}", file=f)
 
@@ -493,6 +496,7 @@ def write_error_stats(
     test_set_name: str,
     results: List[Tuple[str, str]],
     enable_log: bool = True,
+    compute_CER: bool = False,
 ) -> float:
     """Write statistics based on predicted results and reference transcripts.
 
@@ -520,7 +524,7 @@ def write_error_stats(
           The reference word `SIR` is missing in the predicted
           results (a deletion error).
       results:
-        An iterable of tuples. The first element is the cur_id, the second is
+        An iterable of tuples. The first element is the cut_id, the second is
         the reference transcript and the third element is the predicted result.
       enable_log:
         If True, also print detailed WER to the console.
@@ -537,6 +541,14 @@ def write_error_stats(
     words: Dict[str, List[int]] = defaultdict(lambda: [0, 0, 0, 0, 0])
     num_corr = 0
     ERR = "*"
+    
+    if compute_CER:
+        for i, res in enumerate(results):
+            cut_id, ref, hyp = res
+            ref = list("".join(ref))
+            hyp = list("".join(hyp))
+            results[i] = (cut_id, ref, hyp)
+    
     for cut_id, ref, hyp in results:
         ali = kaldialign.align(ref, hyp, ERR)
         for ref_word, hyp_word in ali:
@@ -612,7 +624,9 @@ def write_error_stats(
             f"{cut_id}:\t"
             + " ".join(
                 (
-                    ref_word if ref_word == hyp_word else f"({ref_word}->{hyp_word})"
+                    ref_word
+                    if ref_word == hyp_word
+                    else f"({ref_word}->{hyp_word})"
                     for ref_word, hyp_word in ali
                 )
             ),
@@ -622,7 +636,9 @@ def write_error_stats(
     print("", file=f)
     print("SUBSTITUTIONS: count ref -> hyp", file=f)
 
-    for count, (ref, hyp) in sorted([(v, k) for k, v in subs.items()], reverse=True):
+    for count, (ref, hyp) in sorted(
+        [(v, k) for k, v in subs.items()], reverse=True
+    ):
         print(f"{count}   {ref} -> {hyp}", file=f)
 
     print("", file=f)
@@ -636,7 +652,9 @@ def write_error_stats(
         print(f"{count}   {hyp}", file=f)
 
     print("", file=f)
-    print("PER-WORD STATS: word  corr tot_errs count_in_ref count_in_hyp", file=f)
+    print(
+        "PER-WORD STATS: word  corr tot_errs count_in_ref count_in_hyp", file=f
+    )
     for _, word, counts in sorted(
         [(sum(v[1:]), k, v) for k, v in words.items()], reverse=True
     ):