Can you specify a Communications Device that allows mute Mac speakers without muting Communication Device?

I have a colleague who has a Mac and we're on a lot of big Zoom meetings together. Unfortunately he has his speaker + communications output on the same speaker so we hear every single alert he receives which frequently cuts him off. If he mutes his speaker it mutes his Jabra Speaker (his comms device).

I have windows, where we can have a communications device, meaning I can have a speaker + mic dedicated to my Zoom / Skype / etc. but all my other audio is output thorugh my laptop. This allows me to mute my laptop independent of my communications speaker (also a Jabra speaker). Is this possible on Mac? I just want to help him out as he's just had a promotion and will be speaking to much more senior people. I know it's something that frustrates / embarrasses him.

Can this be done without 3rd party apps? We cannot download many 3rd party apps on our work computers.

Solution 1:

On macOS, the Sound pane of System Preferences has options to set the output device for 'Sound Effects' (such as System Alerts) separately from the audio device for all other output.

Here, I have it set to be the same as the usual sound output, but it needn't be. And you can set the volume to be different from the normal audio output, including mute.

Zoom has its own settings for audio input and ouput, in its Preferences, which can be the same or different from the system defaults.