Recent neuroimaging and neurophysiological evidence reveals how the reading system successfully adapts when phonological codes are relatively coarsegrained due to reduced or distorted auditory input. Our research focuses on deaf adults who have achieved reading success and who use sign language in their everyday lives. The evidence suggests that the optimal end-state for the reading system may differ for deaf versus hearing adults and indicates that certain neural patterns that are maladaptive for hearing readers may be beneficial for deaf readers.