Individuals with congenital deafness withmoderate to severe hearing loss experience significant problems in reading despite early diagnosis and the use of advanced technologies such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and auditory-verbal therapy. These difficulties tend to worsen with increasing age, adversely affecting academic performance. Research has consistently proven that deaf individuals exhibit poorer reading skills than their hearing control group. However, they can develop adequate reading abilities through phonological conversion mechanisms. This study evaluates the reading abilities of deaf and normal-hearing individuals using syllable counting, sentence comprehension, and crowding tasks to assess letter and symbol identification under phobia and paraphobia conditions. Participants included 30 deaf individuals (Kannada speakers who used sign language) and two control groups of 30 normal-hearing individuals studying in either English or Kannada as their medium of instruction. All tasks were administered using E-Prime software. Results indicated that deaf individuals performed significantly lower on both tasks, with syllable counting particularly challenging. Crowding effects were observed across both language groups, with deaf participants demonstrating higher accuracy with Kannada letters while hearing individuals performed better with English letters. These findings highlight the need for targeted reading assessments and intervention strategies to enhance literacy skills in deaf individuals. Further research in this area is essential to develop effective reading strategies that can help mitigate academic challenges faced by deaf individuals.