diff --git a/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-aws/livekit/plugins/aws/stt.py b/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-aws/livekit/plugins/aws/stt.py
index 5ef66f58d..9ee7a8947 100644
--- a/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-aws/livekit/plugins/aws/stt.py
+++ b/livekit-plugins/livekit-plugins-aws/livekit/plugins/aws/stt.py
@@ -160,9 +160,16 @@ async def input_generator():
                 except Exception as e:
                     logger.exception(f"an error occurred while streaming inputs: {e}")
 
-            # try to connect
             handler = TranscriptEventHandler(stream.output_stream, self._event_ch)
-            await asyncio.gather(input_generator(), handler.handle_events())
+            tasks = [
+                asyncio.create_task(input_generator()),
+                asyncio.create_task(handler.handle_events()),
+            ]
+            # try to connect
+            try:
+                await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
+            finally:
+                await utils.aio.gracefully_cancel(*tasks)
         except Exception as e:
             logger.exception(f"an error occurred while streaming inputs: {e}")
 
diff --git a/tests/test_stt.py b/tests/test_stt.py
index e3b17100d..0d7a3f4ca 100644
--- a/tests/test_stt.py
+++ b/tests/test_stt.py
@@ -109,9 +109,9 @@ async def _stream_output():
 
         async for event in stream:
             if event.type == agents.stt.SpeechEventType.START_OF_SPEECH:
-                assert (
-                    recv_end
-                ), "START_OF_SPEECH recv but no END_OF_SPEECH has been sent before"
+                assert recv_end, (
+                    "START_OF_SPEECH recv but no END_OF_SPEECH has been sent before"
+                )
                 assert not recv_start
                 recv_end = False
                 recv_start = True
diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index ad20fc43a..dc7933de4 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -20,18 +20,16 @@
 
 
 def wer(hypothesis: str, reference: str) -> float:
-    wer_standardize_contiguous = tr.Compose(
-        [
-            tr.ToLowerCase(),
-            tr.ExpandCommonEnglishContractions(),
-            tr.RemoveKaldiNonWords(),
-            tr.RemoveWhiteSpace(replace_by_space=True),
-            tr.RemoveMultipleSpaces(),
-            tr.Strip(),
-            tr.ReduceToSingleSentence(),
-            tr.ReduceToListOfListOfWords(),
-        ]
-    )
+    wer_standardize_contiguous = tr.Compose([
+        tr.ToLowerCase(),
+        tr.ExpandCommonEnglishContractions(),
+        tr.RemoveKaldiNonWords(),
+        tr.RemoveWhiteSpace(replace_by_space=True),
+        tr.RemoveMultipleSpaces(),
+        tr.Strip(),
+        tr.ReduceToSingleSentence(),
+        tr.ReduceToListOfListOfWords(),
+    ])
 
     return tr.wer(
         reference,